You taught me to love again
by DaisyMeadow
Summary: What if the others hadn't found Nick after Clem ran of with Pete? What if Nick met a girl and fell in love? Who will they meet, who can they trust? ...Will they survive...?
1. When I first met him

**When I first met him**

The boy was running through the woods, running without a pause, probably fleeing from a herd of lurkers. There have been so many lately. The boy, or should I say man, because he seemed to be around twenty years old, was carrying a rifle. Approaching him would not be the cleverest idea. From high up in my tree I had a perfect view over a large part of the woods. This way I didn't have to worry about any lurkers sneaking up on me.

Not making a sound I walked over to the next large branch of my tree in order to follow the running man with my eyes. Near that old shed he stopped. He looked around, and his eyes almost met mine. I climbed up a bit higher and hid between the canopy layers of my tree. When I dared lower myself I saw he had entered the shed and was now trying to keep the lurkers, who were desperately trying to burst open the old rotten door, out. There were just three of them...

I could easily take them out. I hesitated. I knew nothing of the guy. What if he'd just shoot me on sight like any random asshole would do nowadays? I clenched my dagger in my hand. I could just hide if he'd come out. Helping a stranger was risky during the apocalypse, but like my mother always used to say, _we are on this planet for one reason, to help each other._ The lurkers seemed to have had a different opinion on that when they ripped her apart.

Surviving had been tough since I left my group. Staying was too dangerous. Everyone had been going insane, some had even suggested eating the least fit people in order to survive. That crossed my boundary and I had quietly left that very night.

How long ago did it happen? I completely lost my sense of time. It could have been days, weeks maybe even months. I had no idea. If only I knew what time it was…

I made up my mind. Helping a stranger wasn't going to help me in any way. I could get killed instead. But just as I wanted to jump over to another tree, and forget this guy ever existed I heard him scream. The lurkers pushed the door open and started limping towards him. The guy screamed once more. I couldn't leave him like this. He desperately held on to his rifle and tried to knock the nearest lurker out with it.

'Just shoot.' I whispered.

I couldn't let these things kill him I had to help. Leaving him like this would make me no better then a lurker.

I quietly jumped out of the tree and approached the old shed. I kneeled down, hid behind a big tree trunk and picked up a rock next to my feet. I threw the rock against the shed's doors in an attempt to lure the lurkers away from him, but the guy's screaming was so loud the rock didn't alert the lurkers, they didn't even realise it. I stood up and snuck behind the three walking corpses. When the guy saw me his eyes widened. With my left hand I grabbed one of the lurkers' T-shirt, and cut open his head. Gross brownish blood splattered on my face and clothes, I always hated this part. The other two walkers now turned around and came towards me. My grip around the dagger was so firm my knuckles were probably white. I dashed forward, holding the dagger, not like a sword, but with the blade beneath my wrist so that I could quickly pull it out of my lurker victims if I had to.

I found just the right place on its neck and cut off the next ones head. I wasn't sure whether I killed it or not so I turned around. The body was lying there, but the head was still viscously trying to somehow bite me in my ankle. I kicked it away. Of course… destroy the brain first. Couldn't these goddamn lurkers give me a break?

It turned out they couldn't because the last lurker now jumped on top of me, I had completely forgotten about that one. This one used to be a rather fat man, and me, and my sack of bones I called a body, were being flattened underneath. What ones used to be his head was too close to my face, he tried to bite my nose and I just managed to avoid his bloody jaw. This was it. I thought. This was what I got in return for helping a stranger. I was going to die. This random lurker was going to bite my face off and there was nothing I could do…

I felt something trying to violently take the dagger from my hand. Because of my old reflexes I clenched to it as if it could save my life, even though I knew it wouldn't. Not in this situation. But if I was to die here and now, I would with the closest thing I had left to a friend in my hand. The lurker kept trying to sink its teeth into my face.

'Please!' I suddenly heard a low voice yelp in frustration. 'I'm trying to help you!'

What did he mean, wasn't I trying to help him?

'Let go!' he screamed. ' For god's sake let go of your knife!'

I finally understood. I forced my fist to open and he snatched the dagger out of my hand. With a last gargle the lurkers' head fell on my chest. The man helped me by pushing the heavy body of me.

I was shaking all over. He kneeled down and pulled the dagger out of the now forever lifeless body at me feet. When he handed it to me he looked catious.

'Thanks.' He said as he looked at me with his light grey eyes. 'I'm Nick.'

'Cammie.' I managed to whisper in between the gasping, and I smiled. 'It's a dagger by the way.'


	2. Just the two of us

**Just the two of us**

The rain poured down on the old shed's roof.

Before the apocalypse I had hated the rain. I always wanted it to be warm. I wanted to visit the beach with my friends, sunbathe, and swim or watch boys… All these things seemed like distant dreams now, fake realities that could never be true. Every time I'd realise these things had actually happened in the past I'd be depressed, wanting this nightmare to be over. I wanted to wake up in my bed, run downstairs and find my mother there, making me breakfast. No matter how often I slapped myself across the face, no matter how many times I pinched my cheek, waking up wouldn't happen. I had given up on it.

The reason I wanted it to rain was because of the sound. It confused the lurkers, and almost made it possible for me to ignore their constant grunting and gargling.

Here I was, in an old shed, together with Nick. We just saved each other's lives, and now he just sat there in the corner of the shed, depressed, staring at the floor not wanting to tell me why.

After we'd recovered from almost being eaten, we had closed the doors of the shed, and put a heavy crate in front of them. Nick's screaming had alerted several lurkers, who had been trying to break through the door with brute force for about half an hour. It seemed like forever when they finally got distracted by some loud bird and walked of. Luckily they did, because I wasn't sure how long the old doors would have lasted otherwise, or how long it would have taken them to figure out there was an almost broken window they could probably crawl through if they broke the glass. I still didn't dare go outside to check how safe it actually was. If they'd still be there I could get in trouble and one almost death was enough for tonight.

My stomach growled. How long had it been since my last meal? Although you could hardly call a hand full of berries and some filthy river water a meal. There were many different kinds of berries further down south from this part of the forest, but I only knew one edible kind, and had never seen the rest of them. The winter was coming and soon berries wouldn't be a reliable food source any longer.

'You hungry too?' I asked Nick. My voice was an annoying disturbance of the quietness in the shed. Nick didn't respond. 'Just trying to keep the conversation going' I mumbled. No reaction.

I stood up and knocked some dust of my jeans.

'I'm gonna look for some food, you never know.' He just sat there, lifeless, almost more lifeless then the average lurker around here.

As I walked towards the back of the shed I slid my finger across one of the shelves.

'Nothing but dust…' I mumbled. I didn't really expect him to react to anything I said, but it seemed impolite to just completely ignore me. I couldn't blame him though; all polite people had been eaten long ago. Only the most tough roots survived this fire, and for how long? How long would it take before I'd burn as well?

I took a white cloth from one of the shelves and found about eight jelly pots containing a questionable fluid.

'What is that stuff?' Nick asked. It was the first thing he'd said in quite a while, his voice sounded raspy. 'Let me see.'

I wanted to argue with him for his bossy tone instead of just talking to me, but I kept my mouth shut. When I brought him one of the jars he opened it and took a sniff. The strong fragrance of some sort of alcoholic beverage quickly burned through my nose, and I stepped back as I made a disgusted face.

'Whiskey.' He decided as he took a sip.

'You probably shouldn't drink…' I started, but he had this empty look in his eyes again and for the brief hour I'd known him I learned he wasn't going to answer me with that look in his eyes anyway.

I took the dusty white cloth, tried to get the dust of it by unfolding it, and coughed because of the tickling sensation when I inhaled the dust cloud.

I sat down cross-legged and started cleaning my precious dagger with the now even filthier white cloth.

When I finished, I wandered around aimlessly, not wanting to sit down and rest, but also not knowing what to do. I looked around some more, apart from a still and some old junk there really wasn't anything useful in the shed, and I quickly got bored. I knew I should be happy with every peaceful moment I got during my life in the apocalypse, but being in this shed for hours with a strange guy that only cared about alcohol wasn't how I wished to spend the night. The shed was shelter from the rain though, and it couldn't hurt having some company, even if they wouldn't talk. At least I could talk to myself and make sure I wouldn't forget how to use my voice.

In the corner of the shed I found a small box, and it contained candles! The darkness had depressed me, it would be at least a bit cozier with some candle light. _It could even get romantic_… a small voice in the back of my head sarcastically pointed out, and I laughed out loud because of how silly it sounded. Love during the apocalypse wasn't possible. As soon as you'd dare love anyone, they'd die. I learned that the hard way.

'What?' nick asked. He was becoming more talkative because of the whiskey.

'Nothing…' I mumbled as I shook my head.

He shrugged his shoulders. 'Whatever.'

'Look.' I said, more enthusiastic then I actually felt, 'I found candles!'

'Did they come with some matches?' he asked as he looked away surly.

I got two fire stones out of my pocket, I had found them in the mountains when I was younger, thank god my younger self was smart enough to take them with me when my mother and I left home looking for safety from the walking corpses.

It took me a while, but after some struggling I managed to light one of the candles.

'Who would have thought girl scouts had any utility?' I asked sarcastically.

He laughed. I knew it was because of the Whiskey, but I was relieved he wasn't too mentally unstable, that could have gotten dangerous.

I sat down on the opposite side of him. The ground was hard and cold, but the candle I'd placed in the middle of us gave me hope. I suddenly remembered the broken window, stood up and somehow managed to cover it up with the white cloth. This way we wouldn't be too visible.

Nick laughed.

'What?' I asked.

He shook his head, still laughing. I was almost afraid he had some sort of mental breakdown, but when I sat down again he pointed at the candle.

'Almost romantic isn't it?' he laughed even louder.

'Shh!' I whispered. I knew he was drunk, and I had just sarcastically pointed it out myself as well, but that remark made me blush anyway. The rain kept pouring out of the sky, which was strange. Because unlike the clouds I felt happier then I had ever been in a long while.


	3. That makes us even

**Hey y'all **

**quick announcement, I uploaded 2 chapters this weekend because I probably won't have time to upload anything next week. Sorry if its not bloody or romantic enough now, it will get better! **

**Hope you'll enjoy and please leave some reviews, I'd love some feedback ;) **

**That makes us even**

'I had to kill my mom.' Nick said without raising his head.

We hadn't talked for a while, and I started dozing off, but when he said that I couldn't help looking at him. The way he sat there, the way he talked, it was all so sad. The alcohol now seemed to be making him more depressed than happy.

'Sounds weird when I say it out loud huh?' he mumbled.

'H-how did it… happen?' I asked carefully. 'You don't have to say if you don't want to…' I quickly added.

He was quiet, and I almost thought he was just going to ignore me again, but then he started talking.

'We took care of someone who got bit.' He mumbled. 'That person had been doomed right from the start. When she turned my mom-' his voice cracked.

'Its okay.' I said. 'I get it.'

'This is so fucked!' he said in a raised voice, and I anxiously turned around hoping there weren't any lurkers nearby. 'This whole world is fucked, we live in a fucking nightmare!' His voice calmed down a bit, 'I mean what's the point, we'll just march to some new place and more will people die, its never gonna stop…' he looked me in the eyes, 'and now, its gonna happen to us.'

I raised one eyebrow. 'I don't know about you, but I don't plan on dying any time soon.'

He ignored me, stood up and took the last two Whiskey jars. I recoiled when he pushed one of the jars in my face. 'Hey Cammie,'

Wow he remembered my name.

'Have a drink with me.' It didn't sound like a question, more like an order. I looked at the filthy jar containing the Whiskey and wanted to refuse, but when I saw that look in his eyes, that desperate and sad look, the same look when he spoke about his mother's death I couldn't refuse, and I accepted the jar. When I did his fingers brushed against mine and he got closer. I hadn't been this close to another living person in forever, and it felt nice, comforting. He toasted and when his jar briefly touched mine a pure _cling_ sounded through the shed. I took a sip and struggled to swallow and not immediately spit it out the burning fluid that now lit my throat on fire. When the apocalypse started I hadn't been of legal drinking age, and when I came across alcohol now I'd just ignore it. I never expected it to taste this bad though.

Nick laughed when he saw my disgusted reaction to the Whiskey and took the jar from my hand.

'I know I said it already, but thanks again for saving me Cammie.' If you hadn't been there…'

'Don't worry about it.' I said with a smile.

'I…' he got closer, his face was now but a few inches away from mine. He was so close I saw the stubbles on his chin, I saw my skinny self in his light grey eyes, and I could feel the heat of his body…

A loud bang far away interrupted the moment and we both turned around to face the door. We didn't breathe, didn't move, but nothing followed, not even the grunting of the lurkers. And that worried me even more.

'Gunfire…?' I whispered. He nodded, walked towards the back of the shed, sat down and closed his eyes. Even if I had wanted to leave tonight, it wouldn't be possible anymore. The walking dead were one thing, but having to deal with people with guns as well was too much for me.

The next morning I woke up before Nick did. The first thing I noticed was that I had fallen asleep in his arms. Or rather, I had fallen asleep and he'd wrapped his arms around me as if I were his teddy bear. I stood up and tried not to wake him, that wasn't too difficult, because he slept as if he hadn't in years. For some reason I felt sad I had to free myself from his embrace. Noweone had hugged me for a long time, and even though I knew he probably hadn't meant to hug me, it just happened in his sleep, I felt butterflies in my stomach.

'No!' I whispered to myself. I couldn't get attached to this guy. If I would, he'd die.

My muscles were soar, that's what you get for falling asleep on the floor. I looked over to the pile of empty Whiskey jars and smiled. Someone would be suffering from a hangover, and it wouldn't be me.

I was so hungry… maybe I'd be able to find some berries in the forest. I felt responsible for Nick, but for some reason I had the feeling he wouldn't be waking up any time soon.

I ran through the forest, quiet. I hadn't come across any lurkers in a while. Occasionally I had move away from the path because of a grunting noise in the distance, but apart from that the forest was quiet this early morning. I came across a bush with some red berries. They almost looked like olives, but red. I was quite sure I had eaten those before, picked a few, and put them in one of the Whiskey jars I had taken with me. When I pushed some low hanging tree branches out of the way, I found a shallow stream. The water looked clean enough. I cleaned the red berries, and filled the whiskey jar with the berries with water, I wished I had taken a second jar with me. I decided to wait eating the berries, and first bring them to Nick, despite my protesting stomach.

To my surprise, it wasn't that hard to find my way back to the shed, but when I heard grunting from inside my heart skipped a beat.

'Nick…?' I whispered. This was answered by more grunting. I took my dagger out of its hilt removed the crate I used to barricade the door from the outside and carefully pushed it open. Nick was lying on the floor. No blood, no lurkers, just a guy suffering from a hangover. I smiled and put the dagger back in its hilt.

'Hey there…' he mumbled. 'Ya got any aspirin?' he laughed because of his own joke as he got up. He looked sleepy.

'No aspirin,' I answered, 'but I got us some berries.' I showed him the jar containing the water with the berries drifting around in it. His eyes widened and he looked more awake.

'I found them deeper in the forest,' I started, as I pointed towards the open door. I was interrupted as he stood up and snatched the jar out of my hand. When he took the lid of he took one of the berries out and closely examined it.

He grunted again, but this time it sounded desperate, not because of his hangover. 'Please, please don't tell me you ate these.'

'N-no.' I answered in confusion.

His face relaxed. 'This,' he began as he held the berry close to my face, 'is English yew. Extremely poisonous, without an antidote.'

'But they look just like the berries that have kept me alive since this apocalypse started!' I defended myself.

'Yeah,' he said with a sarcastic smile, 'they do. But I've lived on a farm close to the forests and every farm boy knows these,' he threw the berry in the air and caught it, 'equal death.' As he closed his fist the berry juice dripped down his arm, it looked like blood.

I felt stupid. 'Well thanks for saving my life.' I mumbled. 'I guess that makes us even.'


	4. Nostalgia

**Hey y'all,**

**I had some spare time today so SURPRISE another chapter :) The story might seem a bit slow right now, but it will get better! (I hope) I'm looking foreward to writing Ch 5, I'm not going to spoil too much, but let's just say we'll probably come across some familiar faces... ;)**

**Hope you'll enjoy please leave some reviews I'd love some feedback :D**

* * *

**Nostalgia**

'C'mon.' Nick called while he made a gesture with his hand indicating I had to follow him.

We had been walking through the forest for a while, Nick had shown me a berry kind that was edible, and I was a little less hungry now. Of course berries don't fill up your stomach like a warm pancake would, but its better ten nothing. Pancakes… it had been so long since I last had those. Unless I'd come across a functioning farm without lurkers, I'd probably never have one again…

'Where are we going actually?' I now asked Nick.

'Back to my group.' Nick answered without looking back. 'We live in a big cabin a little while up North from here. I'm sure they won't mind someone else, we just added a little girl to the group so why wouldn't you be welcome?'

'Group…' I mumbled, and then I realised what he meant and my eyes widened. 'Oh no, no no no no no.' I shook my head in disagreement.

'What?' he stopped walking and I bumped into him. If he hadn't grabbed my wrist I would have fallen in the mud.

He pulled me up, and I now leaned against his chest. For a second I just stood there, he didn't push me away, but then I realised how close I was, so I stepped back and awkwardly cleared my throat as I turned away to hide my red face from him. I blushed too easily…

'What?' he asked me ones more.

I saw his face was red as well. How cute… Wait, What? Cute? No Cammie! This guy isn't cute!

'Me and groups don't go together.'

He raised an eyebrow.

'I'm more of a lone wolf you see…' I added.

He folded his arms in front of his chest.

Gah, did I have to spell it out for him? 'I don't like groups, because I only take care of myself okay.' I now admitted. 'There I said it. When it comes to it I don't care about anyone but myself, cause I'm just like any other bitch out here I don't give a shit about others.' I started walking again.

'The Cammie I know is different.' Nick said refusing to take another step.

'That's the point,' I said as I turned around. 'You don't know me!' I snapped in a raised voice. 'If you take me with you I won't be helping anyone if it comes to it.'

'You helped me, when you could've easily died yourself.' he said as he carefully approached me as if I was a wild deer ready to run from him if he made a sudden move.

'Listen, I am not going to live in a group. End of the discussion! I want to make my own decisions.'

His body was but a few inches from mine, he raised his arms as if he wanted to hug me, but suddenly dropped them again. 'Fine.' He mumbled. He sounded grumpy again, like the sober Nick that evening in the shed.

'You'd be another mouth to feed anyway…' he mumbled, so soft he probably thought I hadn't heard it.

I suddenly felt bad, he probably meant to be nice, and I'd turned him down as if he asked me to kiss a lurker.

'Nick, I'm s-' my apology was rudely interrupted as a lurker grabbed me from behind, I'd been so lost in thought I hadn't even heard it from behind me. I screamed.

The lurker tried to bite me in my neck, but missed when Nick ran towards it and pushed it away from me. The corpse landed on the ground, and suddenly jumped towards Nick, I didn't expect it to get up this fast. I got my dagger out of its hilt, jumped up and pierced the lurker's bold skull just as it wanted to sink its bloody teeth into Nick's neck.

As I turned around I saw three more lurkers, coming towards us.

'Shit!' mumbled.

'We gotta get outta here!' Nick screamed.

He started running, and I followed him. I didn't even care about where I went anymore, I just wanted to get away from these flesh eating corpses. There were so many lurkers, on the path there were two others, and I ducked towards the right to avoid the flailing arms of lurker number… what was it nine? I didn't even have time to count.

As we ran, I noticed a young tree, with some low hanging branches, easily climbable, and high enough. But then my gaze shifted over to nick, running in front of me. I hesitated. He wouldn't be able to climb with his riffle hanging in the way, and besides, the branches probably wouldn't support him. A skinny girl was one thing, but another grown up man would be too much for the tree, and if we'd fall down we might a well lay down on a plate because we'd undoubtedly be lurker food.

What I said earlier popped up in my head, _I only take care of myself…. _

Not this time, I decided. And I ran passed the tree when we got near it.

A lurker appeared right before my nose as it crawled out of the bushes, I still had my dagger out, destroyed his brain and violently pulled the dagger out of the bleeding skull as I was running. My hand was all red because of the blood dripping from my dagger. One down, about… I turned around, eleven more to go.

I started to get exhausted from the running, luckily I saw a cabin looming in the woods. The back door was ajar, and nick ran in without hesitation. This must've been where he and his group lived.

When I got in he closed the door and locked it.

'That door is pretty secure, it's survived more lurkers then this.' He reassured me.

When I looked through one of the kitchen windows I realised several lurkers had given up the hunt and there were now just five more outside of the cabin. It seemed like the rotting piles of flesh were too stupid to recognise a door and they no wandered outside wondering where their running Happy Meal had went.

That calmed me down and I now took a first look at where I was. 'Big cabin…' I mumbled. 'With how many are you?' I asked Nick, no answer. I realised he had walked into the living room. 'Nick?' I followed his muddy footsteps and my jaw dropped. The living room was a huge mess, pillows had been ripped apart, revealing the soft white stuffing that was spread around the room, furniture had been knocked over and several personal belongings of the inhabitants had been scattered around the floor.

'You guys… aren't the neatest of people are ya?' I joked. But he didn't respond.

'What the…' he stammered.

'Fuck.' I finished his swear. 'Can I look around?' I asked. He didn't answer. 'I'll take that as a yes…' I mumbled as I made my way upstairs. All the bedroom doors were opened and the mattresses had been treated the same way as the couch. Everything the owners ones had was either broken or scattered on the floor. I picked up a torn apart book from the floor, 'The Gurgles…' I mumbled with a frown.

'It's the same here…' I yelled. Someone had searched through this cabin as if they'd been in a hurry, really angry or both…

I heard Nick's heavy footsteps on the stairs and he now stood behind me beholding what ones must've been his room.

My eyes noticed an out of place detail in the messy room. 'What's that?' I asked as I leaned down next to a big brown cabinet and tried to decipher the boyish writing someone had carved on the cabinet's side. I tilted my head a little and nick lowered himself besides me.

'Its says… _Where we almost killed Clem…_ what's a Clem?' I asked confused.

Nick stood up and ran downstairs.

'Where are you going?' I yelled. 'Nick?'

He opened the door without hesitation and ran towards a small shed outside of the cabin. There were just two of them left, but the lurkers noticed us when we ran towards the little shed. He opened the doors and ran in. When I entered I closed the door behind us.

'Oh my god…' I quickly covered my mouth in order not to throw up. 'What's that smell?!' I got to know what it was when I turned away from the door, and saw a dead lurker, stuck to some sharp thing that penetrated his body. His intestines were showing. 'Gross…' I mumbled. 'Why have that in your shed?'

'As if we have it there on purpose!' Nick snarled as he searched through the shed like a mad idiot. 'This is where Clementine almost died!' he explained, not pausing his search. What was he even looking for?

'Oh… I get it Clem is a person. That makes more sense…' I mumbled as I looked around. A large wooden plank that had probably hung on the wall ones leaned against the wall now. I noticed a big gap in the corner of the shed and covered it up with a convinienlty placed toolbox. It wasn't much, but at least we'd noticed if something tried to crawl in. Just then when I made my way past the dead lurker, I noticed something white sticking out of its jaw. It was well hidden, and that someone in a hurry probably hadn't seen it, if they even searched this shed.

I approached the luckily lifeless lurker, and removed a scrap of paper from his mouth. It made a disgusting squishy sound as I pulled it out.

'Oh god… Nick you owe me one…' I mumbled as I handed him the bloody piece of paper.

Nick read it and his eyes widened in horror.

'Well?' I asked out of curiosity, 'What does it say?' He passed the bloody paper back to me. In the same boyish handwriting it said something like:

_Nick, Carvy showed up. Moving North, Luke. _It was difficult to make out because of the bloodstains.

'Whose… Carvy?' I asked Nick who now sat on the floor, desperately covering his eyes with his hands.

'CarVER' he corrected me. 'We're fucked, I'm never gonna find them, but its not save here either I gotta follow them up North before he comes back to check this place again.'

'Is this Carvy that dangerous?' I asked calling this possible threat Carvy on purpose.

Nick sighed. 'I'll explain later.' He stood up. 'Lets go.'

'There are lurkers outside of this shed.' I pointed out as I sat down on the wooden floor cross-legged. 'I'm not going anywhere until I'm not hearing the grunting anymore.'

Nick sat down restlessly. 'We really have to go now!' h said as he anxiously looked at the door.

'Do not rush, we might be here for a while.' I said as I sighed, even though I didn't really mind the shed apart from the smell of death hanging in the air.

'How nostalgic…' he sarcastically mumbled.

'What do you mean?' I asked.

'You've forgotten already?' he asked as he turned to me with a tired smile. 'This is kinda similar to how we first met.'

I laughed. I was starting to get used to laughing again, and that wasn't a bad feeling…


	5. Goodbye

**Hey y'all,**

**I'm sorry, I know I promised you some familiar faces in chapter 5 but the chapter was getting too long so I decided to split it in two parts. The upcomming weeks are going to be very buisy for me, so I might not be updating for a while. **

**hope you'll enjoy, please leave some reviews, I'd love some feedback ;)**

* * *

**Goodbye**

'I think, the coast… is … clear.' I mumbled as I quietly pushed open the shed's doors.

Nick stood up. 'Finally!' he sighed in relief just a bit to loud.

'Sst!' I hissed as I gave him an angry look.

The lurkers had apparently moved. I couldn't hear the grunting anymore.

'Well eh…' I started, awkwardly scratching the back of my head. Good luck with finding your friends…'

'W-wait, aren't you coming with me Cammie?'

'That note said they moved up North right?' I asked.

'Yeah, people say the cold there slows the lurkers down, I know it sounds like bullshit but maybe its true, its worth a shot right?' he asked, apparently still struggling with the idea I wouldn't be coming with him.

'Oh it slows them down yeah.' I laughed.

'Please Cammie, you have to help me, if I won't find them I'll have no one left.' His voice cracked and he desperately grabbed my wrist. I looked at his silver eyes, he caught me with his gaze and wouldn't let me escape. I forced myself to look away.

'Listen, Nick I am not moving up north, it is far from safe there.' I said irritated as I stared at the mossy forest ground.

'Give my one good reason why.' He said letting go of my wrist.

'Well, let's start with a simple question. Tell me Nick, what happens to a steak if you leave it in the sun for, say 2 days?'

He looked confused. 'Steak…what does that have to do with-?'

I continued, ignoring his confused behaviour, 'It expires.' I now answered my own question. 'Lets make it more difficult, what would happen to the same type of steak if I put it in the fridge?'

'I guess you'd … preserve it that way,' Nick answered sounding annoyed. 'But again why-'

I interrupted him again, 'Indeed Nick, that's right. Now if we take that situation and imagine the steak is a lurker, what would happen if a lurker moves to a warmer part of the country?' this time I didn't wait for him to answer, 'It would rot, wither away, die because of nature.'

'I guess that makes sense…' Nick mumbled as he scratched the back of his head.

'Lurkers up north last much longer because of the cold. Yes they are slowed down,' I continued before he could say it, 'but they could hide in piles of snow, or appear in large herds and if one grabs ya you're done for. Because there are more up north due to all the people moving that way thinking its safer. North is dangerous as hell. And I don't intend to throw myself in herds of lurkers, thank you but no.'

'Alright I guess that's possible, but how can you be sure?'

'I've been there…' I mumbled. 'And there's no food, no safety… and no hope.' I added.

'Fine. I'll leave on my own then…' he mumbled surly.

These friends must be really important to him.

'So this is… goodbye?' I asked insecurely. I had only know Nick for almost two days, but the idea of never seeing him again made me feel sad, more sad then it should.

'Seems that way.' he answered looking away from me as he shrugged. But when his gaze met mine again the look in his eyes softened.

I held out my hand for him to shake it, a polite human gesture that seemed so out of place in this broken world.

'I-' before I could finish what I wanted to say he pulled me towards him and hugged me.

This time it was a proper hug, no teddy bear hug wen he was asleep, or half a hug when he pulled me up if I almost fell, this was an honest hug and I was squeezed against his T-shirt. It felt nice. I hadn't had this feeling since my mother died, the feeling it was safe to love, that glimpse of hope he gave me seemed to light a fire inside of me. A fire, which I thought, had extinguished long ago, but it had been smouldering inside of me, waiting for a spark to open me again and to let those emotions out.

This couldn't be happening. Those first few days without my mother I had been heart broken, I had isolated myself from the world and that almost resulted in my own death. It was the main reason my group wanted to eat me, because I was a burden. After a while of being alone I woke up from that state of being, sort of. I had promised myself there and then I would never love anyone ever again. I couldn't. Emotions made one weak, and weakness always results in death.

I tried to free myself from his embrace, but he hugged me tighter.

'Please…' he begged, 'just one more second…' he seemingly forced himself to drop his arms and he cleared his throat. 'Stay alive Cammie.' He ordered me.

'You to Nick.' I forced my mouth into a smile. It must've looked incredibly fake, because I didn't feel like smiling at all.

What is wrong with you Cammie? You've known this guy for two days. Forget him and move on already! I told myself. I turned around and walked away, ignoring the burning pain in my chest that tried to pull me back towards him.


	6. A White Lie

**A White Lie**

Southward, on my way to safety. I didn't look back as I walked away from the cabin. I thought the pain would get less if I created some distance between me, and my few memories of Nick.

On my way to safety…

But what did safety really matter if you had no one to share it with? I was alone again. But this was what I wanted right? Then why was I feeling so depressed?

I looked behind me. The cabin was already a small point on the horizon. Soon it would be nothing but a memory.

'Forget about him Cammie…' I mumbled. Oh yeah, from now on I'd have to talk to myself again…

I sat down, leaned against the bark of a big oak tree and before I knew it, tears were running down my face. I cried. I cried without a noise, but the fact I was still able to cry surprised me. I hadn't felt this way since my mother had died… I felt this way because I'd lost Nick. But Nick wasn't dead. Nick was still alive. I was tired. I couldn't even stand up anymore. I wanted him to be here with me, I wanted him to pick me up and carry me to a place where there would be nothing but safety. I wanted to lean against his comfortable chest and forget everything.

The gargling of a lurker woke me up, it limped closer to me and I got up. I should've ran, I had enough time to move, but I couldn't. It was just like that time my mother died. I couldn't even care anymore. But this time there was no group that could safe me, I was on my own. This time I'd have to safe myself. I looked up at the hollow eyes of a once female lurker.

'Its all because of you!' I screamed as the tears kept running down my face. 'Its because of you fucking lurkers this world is so fucked up!' I knew my words couldn't reach the lurker but I had to release my anger some way. I got out my dagger and without the least bit of mercy, stabbed it in its knee. It fell over and tried to bite me as it did. All it cared about was food. Blood was all over the green forest ground. I examined my dagger, the dark red blood dripped from it on to the ground.

Red had once been my favourite colour, not anymore.

The lurker grabbed my ankle and in a reflex I stomped on its head. The gargling stopped and the quietness of the forest returned. It drove me crazy. I needed sound, I needed company, I needed Nick.

I really felt like a teenager not being able to make a choice, but I made up my mind now. I had to find him. I needed him, otherwise I'd go insane and then I'd lose the last bit of humanity I had left in me.

I dried my tears and started running towards the cabin. I had to hurry and get there before it got dark. I didn't want to spend the night there, but if I got there before the last light of the day would disappear I might be able to follow Nick's trail and find him on his way north. I just hoped he hadn't moved as fast as I had.

As I ran I was aware of how much sound I made, but it didn't bother me. All I could think about was getting over to that idiot, I wanted to feel what I felt when he'd held me in his arms.

When I managed to make out the contours of a lurker on my path I got out my dagger and struck the blade into its skull. I kept running, only holding in to occasionally pull my dagger out of a lurker head. I had never felt this way before; I wanted to get to Nick so bad I wasn't afraid of anything. I avoided a lurker and pushed another one away.

When I finally got to the cabin it was dusk. Night would be falling soon. I wouldn't have time to stop if I wanted to find him tonight. I walked over to where he'd huged me, and realised there was a narrow path not far from the shed. I followed thefootprints in the moist mud. 'Nick...' i whispered as i looked back at the cabin, 'I'll find you.'

* * *

Running through the woods was a boring activity honestly. Nothing worth mentioning happened apart from a few lurkers here and there. I decided I shouldn't feel to lucky, and instead of killing, I now just went a little out of my way to avoid close calls. It was dark, and I had been running for hours. Of course I couldn't run nonstop, and I started getting really thirsty. I didn't even know if Nick had gone the same way as me. I really hoped he had, because if he hadn't I'd probably never find him again. The thought of that made me nervous and I decided not to think about it for the time being.

For all I knew I was heading up north, but without the sun to guide me I could also be running in circles…

It was too dark. I could not see the path anymore and I could barely make out what was in front of me. I just decided it was time to climb a tree and rest when I heard the sound of rustling leaves.

Something was coming, and it wasn't a lurker, their movements were too fluent for that. Hope flared up from inside of me. Maybe it was Nick!

But when I heard a little girl's voice that hope cooled down almost immediately. It seemed like a little girl, and a man around Nick's age were making their way through the woods. All I could do was hide behind a tree and lurk in the shadows, hoping they wouldn't see me…

'C'mon,' a man's voice whispered. 'Let's make sure this area is clear and then we'll get the others and set up camp here.'

'Why can't we just spend the night were the rest is waiting right now?' the little girl asked.

'We'd be too close to the main road.' The man answered. 'I don't want anyone to ambush us in our sleep.'

The fact he said_ anyone_, instead of _anything_ worried me. That has to mean there is more then just the lurkers in this area.

There was a silence for a few seconds and I held in my breath when the stopped walking nears me.

'It's gonna be okay Clem. You're safe with us.' The man reassured the girl.

I gasped for air. Clem,

_Where Clem almost died… _the words echoed through my were Nick's friends!

'Who's there?' The man asked in a somewhat raised voice. Crap my breathing had been too loud... How was I going to get out of this one? I tried to sneak away, but my attempt failed as a branch snapped underneath my feet.

'Come out!' the man demanded.

'We have a gun!' Clementine added. It sounded weird to hear that from a little girl.

There was no point in hiding anymore, I didn't want him to put a bullet through my head just in case…

'Good evening.' I said as I stepped in the faint moonlight that seeped through the thick clouds.

The guy had his gun out and was pointing it at me. The little girl stood behind him. I raised my arms above my head.

'I come in peace.' I said with a smile and to my relief the guy lowered his gun a bit.

'Good evening.' He now said. 'Kinda late to take a stroll through the forest don't ya think?' he asked.

'I could ask you the same thing.' I answered. 'I'm…' I hesitated, was it smart to tell them my name? Oh well, what could it matter? 'Cammie.' I finished.

'I'm Luke, and this is Clementine.' He said as he turned around to point at the little girl. She didn't look scared at all. Instead, she raised one eyebrow as if she was still judging me, which she probably was.

'Nice eh… to meet ya both.'

'Also headin up north?' he asked me.

'Sort of.' I answered as I laughed a humourless laugh.

'Where'd you come from?' he asked.

'Further down south.' I answered. Keeping my answers vague on purpose, refusing to give too many details.

Luke's eyes widened. 'Have you maybe come across a guy named Nick?' he asked me. 'Tall, black hair, wearing a cap, blue eyes…?'

'Carrying a riffle?' Clementine now asked.

They both looked at me waiting for a response. All I had to do was say yes, tell them I'd been looking for him as well, they'd help me look for him, I had to admit I'd seen him, they were his friend, I had to.

'No.' I answered. 'Haven't come across anyone in a while.' My voice interrupted the tense atmosphere.

Why did I say that?! It was as if my mouth decided to ignore my brain's orders.

Luke looked disappointed. 'Yeah I guess that figures. Its a big forest after all.' He looked me in the eyes now. 'If you come across him, please let him know Luke is looking for him.'

I nodded. It seemed like he wanted to say something else but he hesitated.

'We're also headin up north, if… you want you could come with us. We have a map of the area. And after all strength is in numbers.'

'Luke…' the little girl mumbled as she shifted her gaze over to me and squeezed her wolf like eyes.

I was touched by how nice this Luke was to me, even though he didn't even know if I could be trusted or not. I felt bad for lying about Nick, but I couldn't take it back anymore, that would seem even more suspicious. I just had to find him first. When did I become so selfish, what happened to me, why couldn't I just forget this guy and live on?

'No thank you, I prefer traveling on my own.' I mumbled as I realised Luke was still waiting for an answer.

Luke gave me a nod. 'Okay but be careful, there are quite some lurkers in this area.'

'Yeah I know…' I mumbled.

He raised one eyebrow.

'Eh… I mean thank you.'

I walked away from the guy and climbed a tree further away. What had I done? Even if I'd find Nick now, I'd feel guilty because of lying to his friends. 'It's just a white lie…' I mumbled to myself when I hung high up in the tree, gazing at the stars and the full moon. 'These people abandoned him when he needed help… I was there for him… he'd be better of without them… right?' I whispered to myself, trying to talk this feeling of guilt away.

* * *

**At last part two of the long chapter 5, thanks for the patience guys ;) ****I hope you enjoyed, leave a review, I'd love some feedback**


	7. The Big Threat

**Hey guys,**

**This is a bit longer than usual because you probably won't be hearing anything else from me next week.**

**Hope you'll enjoy and please leave some reviews :)**

**Love y'all**

**(And for the people who read this chapter when it just came out, I realised I accidentaly posted the un-edited version. This is the final version of ch 7 sorry ;) )**

* * *

**The Big Threat**

_I stood on a bridge. A lurker approached me, from the left side, and Nick stood on the other side waving while shouting desperately. _

'_C'mon!' he screamed. 'You gotta run, now!'_

_The lurker got closer, it was now just a few meter away from me, but as it moved towards me, it's appearance started to change, I realised it wasn't a lurker at all, it was my mother._

'_Mom!' I screamed and I wanted to run towards her as the tears ran down my face. _

'_No!' Nick shouted, and I stopped running immediately. 'Cammie what are you doing?! Get over here now!'_

'_Honey,' my mother's pleasant voice whispered above the howling wind, her long brown hair waved around her face, just like mine probably did. Everyone had always told me I looked a lot like my mother. She kept getting closer and she now presented me her hand._

'_Come with me. We'll go to somewhere safe. You and I together. Come with me, you're tired. Cammie, it's time to give up.'_

_I was, I was tired. Tired of running, tired of surviving, tired of killing._

_I turned around and faced Nick. He raised his rifle, lined up a shot and pointed at… my mother!_

'_No!' I cried. 'Don't shoo-'_

* * *

**BAM!** With a dull smack I fell out of the tree I had been resting in. that had never happened before. It must've been because of that nightmare just now. I had dreamed about my mother. That made me realise how much I actually missed her. She told me she and I would be safe together. But then…

I frowned.

Nick shot her.

My head hurt. The early morning light seeped through the trees.

I checked my dagger, the only reliable friend I had left, and followed the path north. I hadn't come across any one in two days. Since I found Nick's friends before he did I figured he hadn't travelled as fast as I had, so I hadn't moved as fast as I usually did. It really was time to move on though.

My stomach growled loudly to indicate its disagreement.

'Alright…' I mumbled, 'breakfast first…' I was so hungry I couldn't even think straight anymore. When I came across a bush with some beautiful dark purple berries, I walked towards it and wanted to pick some, only able to think of how hungry I was. As I reached for one off them, picked it and brought it closer to my mouth, Nick's voice echoed through my head just before it touched my lips, and I remembered the conversation about the berries when he showed me what was edible and what not.

* * *

'_How about these?' I asked as I got up and showed him the purple berry. He gave it one look. _

'_Deadly nightshade.' He decided without hesitation._

'_Let me guess…' I started sarcastically, 'extremely poisonous?_'

'_Bingo.' He answered as he briefly touched the tip of my nose. He sure loved being smarter then me._

* * *

I dropped the berry.

'Wow Nick…' I mumbled, 'you're saving my life without even being here.'

Breakfast had to wait a little longer. I got up and turned around. My heart skipped a beat.

'Don't move.' A scratchy voice demanded.

A middle-aged man with a moustache and a big brown coat pointed his gun at me.

'Hands above your head.' He ordered. I looked at the small gun he was holding, it was probably loaded and I decided this wouldn't be the time to anger him so I raised my arms above my head. Sadly he wouldn't lower his gun like Luke did a few nights ago. I was shaking, it wasn't possible to get used to a gun in your face, not even if it happened on a regular basis.

'Good Morning sir.' I tried,

He wouldn't move a muscle.

'I'm not looking for trouble, I was just hungry so I wanted to eat some of these berries.'

'These aren't edible.' He sarcastically pointed out.

'They …aren't?' I asked, hoping my acting skills were not to bad, 'well thank god I haven't eaten them then! I really have to go now though so thank you for warning me but…' I started backing away from him, but he wouldn't fall for it.

'I didn't think so missy.' He said as he nodded to the ground, 'on your knees!' I sighed as I did.

He approached me and pointed the gun against the back of my head.

'Let's see how dangerous you are,' he said as he started searching me.

He started untying my belt, pointing a gun at me was one thing, but now he went to far. 'What the fuck do you want from me?' I snapped. 'Rape me, in the middle of a forest during the fucking apocalypse? That's a clever idea!'

He ignored me and removed the belt from my waist. As he took the dagger out of its hilt he examined it.

'Fine dagger…' he mumbled. I had to admit I was impressed he recognised it as a dagger.

'Hey Johnny!' the man called. I flinched because of the loud voice so close to my right ear.

'Yeah?' I heard a man's voice behind me.

'You said you lost your knife right?' he asked. The man didn't answer out loud so I assumed he just nodded. I didn't dare move, this guy would shoot me, no doubt.

'Here.' the man with the gun said. 'This is better then a knife. Make sure you don't fucking lose it again though, cause you aint getting anything else.'

'Don't worry, I won't.' he started walking away but suddenly stopped as if he remembered something important he'd forgotten. 'Thanks!' the man said as I heard him disappear in the woods. I cried from the inside, that dagger had saved my life so many times. I knew it was childish, but apart from my humanity it was the only thing I still valued in this life, and now it was gone. Some random asshole with a gun took it and gave it to some random idiot.

'Where are they?' the man asked as he pressed the gun against my head again. My knees hurt from sitting on the forest ground with all it's twigs and stones hurting my knees.

'I don't know what you're talking about.' I said as calmly as possible. He hit me in my face. The smack was so hard I could hear it echo through the forest and I fell over. It left me with an unpleasant tingling sensation on my cheek.

'Don't you fucking lie to me!' he yelled.

From how I lay on the ground I looked up at the man, all that made him dangerous was that stupid tiny little gun of his… if only I could somehow steal it from him…

'I don't fucking know what you're talking about…' I said ones more as I stroke my cheek where he'd hit me.

'I heard you talk about Nick, and he appears to be one of the people I'm looking for.' He now said. 'Don't fucking pretend you don't know them, cause I know you do!' he said as he hit me in the face again. When I licked my upper lip I tasted blood.

'My BROTHER Nick is out there somewhere with the rest of my group consisting of my dad and a few other men, looking for food. They all have guns, and I don't know with how many you are but I wonder if you could take them on. At least some of your people would die so I wouldn't risk it.'

He didn't seem scared, just surprised. And he probably didn't believe me, but he did seem to be considering the possibility.

'Yeah, there are more Nicks out there.' I said as I got up. He didn't stop me. 'Good luck finding your people.' I said. The sarcasm might have been too obvious.

'I'm not done with you yet.' he said. He took a walky-talky from his belt, and started talking. 'Bring me a rope, I've got someone who might know the ones we're looking for.'

'Was she with them?' the voice on the radio now asked.

'Not sure,' Carver answered 'but I don't have time to listen to her lies now. We need to move. I'll break her sooner or later.'

'What if she doesn't know them after all?' the voice on the radio now asked insecurely.

'Better safe then sorry.' Carver answered with a grin. He did realise I was sitting on the ground just a meter away from him right?

He lowered the hand with the gun he was pointing at me a bit when he turned away from me, and that was my signal. I dashed forward and snatched the gun out of his hand.

'I didn't think so Carvy.' I said with a laugh as I pointed the gun at him.

Calmly Carver spoke to the person on the radio, and it frightened me how relaxed he seemed. 'Get everyone over here, we've got an annoying little-' he didn't have time to finish as I fired. I missed on purpose to distract him, and started running. I only turned around ones and gave him the finger. '

'Fuck you Carvy!' I yelled as I looked at his face. He looked furious.

_Good job Cammie… a new enemy…_

His backup had apparently arrived, because I heard them shoot. One bullet hit a tree next to me, another one missed me by an inch, but the one after that hit me. I bit on my lip so that I wouldn't shout.

I forced myself to keep running. As I did I desperately tried to stop the bleeding on my left arm. When I looked at my hand it was dark red because of my own blood. I had seen lots of blood, daily. But seeing myself bleed like this made me lose my stomach.

I could only think one thing, _Fuck Fuck Fuck._

My vision got blurry, I couldn't stop now, I had to keep going, who knew what they'd do if they caught up to me. I looked back as I kept running. This was a lot different from fleeing from lurkers. They weren't too far from me. And they started getting closer. Were they running faster, or was I running more slowly now? I started seeing things double, and that made it difficult to aim. I tried shooting one of the smudges in the distance. I missed, of course.

I couldn't run anymore, I was tired. _Time to give up…_

I bumped into a tree and it knocked me backwards.

Trees, my last chance.

The tree was perfect, easily climbable, broad branched, and lots of leaves to hide me. But climbing it appeared to be more difficult when you had a bullet through your arm. A sharp pain shot through the bleeding arm as I tried to pull myself up with it. I let go of the branch and fell on the ground. As I got up I realised a lurker was making its way towards me. As if it couldn't get any worse!

Carver and his men weren't far now. If they saw what I was trying I'd be done for.

'C'mon Cammie!' I cried quietly. 'You can do this, I know you can!'

With the last strength I had left in my body I pulled myself up with one arm, and swung my legs over the branch. I was still close to the ground and the lurker grabbed my ankle. I desperately kicked in the air hoping I could kick his bloody head of before it could bite me, but I missed. Desperately trying to not fall on the ground again I put the gun from my left, to my right hand, turned my upper body around and raised my wounded arm. I couldn't see anything because of the tears and blood blinding my vision. I pulled the trigger.

The lurker let go of my ankle, and I heard a smack, as it's lifeless body fell over. I got it! I couldn't believe how lucky I was, but I didn't have time to think about it.

I pushed myself up with my good arm and climbed a level higher. When I couldn't see the ground anymore because of the leaves I let the dizziness take control of me. Was this how I would die, high up in a tree? That would be ironic. Right before I lost consciousness I thought one thing; before I die, I want to lose myself in those silver eyes ones more.


	8. Time To Give Up

**Hey there,**

**Before I forget, I just wanted to say thanks for the kind reviews so far :)**

**It makes me really happy to hear you guys enjoy the story! **

* * *

**Time To Give Up**

I slowly opened my eyes. All I saw was green. Wasn't heaven supposed to be white? And if I wasn't in heaven, wasn't hell supposed to be red? Even though I didn't know what could be worse anymore, living or afterlife in hell.

When I tried to move my right arm, I groaned. The pain pulled my right back into existence. I was able to lift my head, and everything started coming back to me, Carver shot me, or maybe one of his men did, that didn't matter. I should've been dead, or rather, undead.

But I wasn't.

I grabbed my wrist, taking your own pulse just in case you were a lurker was a weird feeling, but you never know. Did the person inside the lurker completely disappear, or were they caught inside their rotting body, unable to control their actions?

I was drenched in blood, and it seemed as if my arm was still bleeding. I looked down, despite me being injured I'd climbed pretty far up. Now how in the world would I get down?

I tried to move my weight from one branch, to another one that was close to me, as soon as I accidently leaned on my wounded arm I screamed.

'Nice and slow Cammie…' I mumbled, 'you don't want to attract attention now…' my voice sounded weird and raspy, as if it hadn't been used in years. I was thirsty, and as soon as I thought about water, I thought about food. Man I was hungry!

Something hurt my thigh as I tried sitting in a somewhat different pose. Oh right, Carvy's gun. I took it from my pocket and checked if it still had ammo left, it didn't.

I had used my last bullet on that lurker. I wanted to throw the now useless weapon away, but changed my mind when I saw what it looked like in my hand. It certainly looked more threatening then a dagger, even though I felt my dagger was worth a thousand of these stupid tiny guns. If I came across any other human enemies I could at least bluff my way out… I slid the gun back into my pocket.

'Now or never…' I whispered as I jumped over to another branch closer to the ground, it hurt! It hurt so bad. The tears in my eyes immediately made it seem like I was underwater, chopping my arm off seemed less painful like this, but I had to keep going now.

I jumped again, and bit on my tongue so that I wouldn't scream. I tasted blood, great, as if I hadn't lost enough blood already…

I was close to the ground now. I tried to blink the tears away and slowly slid down the branch. I felt better having solid ground underneath my feet again.

The lurker that attacked me when I'd climbed the tree lay and inch from my feet in the dark red grass. I didn't really want to, but couldn't help looking at its face, it really had been a lucky shot, just a little bit to the right and I would've missed it for sure.

I shifted my gaze over to the sun. Time to move. From the way I walked I must've looked a lot like a lurker, because literally every muscle in my entire body hurt…

It didn't take me long to find back the path, but without any useful weapon I found myself freaking out over every sound in the forest, and that was very tiring. I was hungry, thirsty, and cold, I felt dizzy, and I had a massive headache because of the blood loss. My arm was still bleeding. How much blood could I still afford to lose? I felt like a walking leaking juice box for the lurkers.

With my good arm a pushed away a bush, I and couldn't help but gaze. I'd been walking through the forest for days, no, months. For the longest time I'd seen nothing but trees and dirt, so a change of scenery was welcome, even though the scenery usually was my least concern. I found myself near a huge red bridge over a big lake with a strong current. On the other side if the bridge I could just make out what seemed to be a tiny building.

That gave me hope, even though I knew any idiot moving up north had probably checked it twice, there could be some supplies left, maybe something to eat, or better yet, a functioning weapon…

I made my way towards the bridge and staggered, I couldn't even stand anymore, but collapsing like this in the open would be disastrous, I had to at least get inside the building, just a little further.

Walking on the bridge was as scary as walking on a rope over a burning net, not as if I'd ever done that before, but you get what I mean.

The bridge had its middle part made of wooden planks, and the sides made of steel. The wooden planks made some cracking noises, and I quickly realized that part of the bridge wasn't reliable, so I walked on the steel sides. But I was so dizzy I staggered after every step I took and it felt like I could fall over the sides any moment.

Everything got more vague every second. I felt like lying dow on the cold steel, sleeping and never waking up again. I couldn't even feel the cold anymore, was I dying?

A pile of flesh was lying on the bridge, barely recognizable as a human being. I wanted to ignore it, but something wasn't right, the pile of flesh moved, it got up and saw me. My breath got stuck in my throat.

I had no weapon, and no power to do anything. There was no way out.

I moved away from the bleeding, groaning corpse as fast as I could, and lost my stomach as I almost fell over the side of the bridge. I wanted to walk on the planks, that seemed safer, but the lurker was faster then me, since when were fucking lurkers faster then me? Speed had been my most important advantage against these monsters, not anymore. It jumped towards me. I slipped when the heavy body collided with mine,

And I fell over.

Just in time my wounded arm managed to get hold of the edge of the bridge and there I hung. The wind howled and played with my hair, as if it found the whole situation amusing.

My wounded arm now had to support the weight of my entire body. It hurt so bad, and I screamed, I cried, but I couldn't let go, I wouldn't be able to swim in the freezing water, if I'd fall, I was done for.

The lurker now crawled closer to the edge, and brought his disgusting chunk of flesh, which had probably been his head ones, closer the hand that was so sweaty and bloody it was slowly losing its hold of the edge of the bridge.

_Time to give up…_

I'd rather die then let this thing enjoy one of my fingers. I wouldn't be his meal.

So, I let go.

This was the end. I would die. Soon I would see my mother again, we'd be safe together. I closed my eyes, ready to accept the faith that lay in store for everyone in this cursed world. _And now, its gonna happen to us… _Nick's words echoed through my head. I was going to die, but he was the last one I would think about before dying. What would it feel like, would it hurt? I'd find out now.

Or not? Something, or rather someone grabbed my wrist just before I was out of reach, and he now pulled me up. It was my wounded arm, and the pain shot through me as if he pulled it off, but I lived, he'd saved my life!

When I sat on the bridge I couldn't breathe anymore. I looked over to my left and saw the lurker's corpse laying there, the closest thing it had had to a head, had been pulverized by the shoe of my rescuer.

I slowly raised my head to look the face of the guy that had saved me. I heard him before I saw,

'I guess we're not even anymore.' He joked while bending over to catch his breath as well.

Tears started welling up in my eyes, I had really grown weak, I cried about everything lately, but this time it wasn't because of sadness or pain, I cried because of relief, because of happiness.

'Nick!' I screamed and ignoring the pain throughout my entire body as I jumped up and fell into his arms. He staggered to maintain his balance, but wrapped his arms around me. He obviously hadn't expected me to react this way.

'I-its okay…' he mumbled and I could feel his chest resonate as he spoke. I pressed my face against his T-Shirt and listened to his reassuring heartbeat. He bent over and picked me up. My feet rose from the ground. I hadn't felt this safe since before the apocalypse, and I closed my eyes with a tired smile.

'C'mon.' he said as he started walking, 'lets get you over to that building. When I saw you walking on this bridge I thought you were imitating a lurker but you're really exhausted aren't you?'

I wanted to answer but I couldn't. My body felt twice as heavy as it did just a second ago, and all I felt capable of doing was sleeping. I concentrated on the peaceful rhythm of his steps. He walked over the bridge much faster then I could ever have.

'Just a sec.' he said as he put me down on a bench. I felt weak, I didn't want him to leave me, and it annoyed me. I couldn't take care of myself right that moment. I wanted to stand up and be the strong Cammie I had been almost a week ago. But that was the Cammie without Nick. And whether I liked it or not, I needed him.

He picked me up again and carried me inside the small building. There he placed my on a bed. It had been so long since I'd last touched a bed, or something of the like…

It felt soft, like a cloud. And yet I didn't want to lie down, I wanted to lean against him, because i knew he would be more comfortable then any bed we could ever find out here.

What had happened to me? Since when did I talk like a love sick teenager?

I heard Nick gasp for air, 'Y-you're bleeding!' he whispered.

'No kidding…' I mumbled back as I finally opened my eyes. 'I was shot by your friend Carvy.'

'You met Carver?' he asked in disbelief as his eyes widened.

'Lets talk about it later…' I groaned as I looked around.

The building really was as small as it seemed, maybe even smaller. There was an improvised bed, which I now sat on, a desk with some useless junk, and a big trunk near the window.

'Yeah… yeah… eh... let me see that arm.' Nick now said and I shifted my gaze over to him. He hadn't changed bit since a few days ago and yet he did seem different from that asshole I saved in the shed that day.

He carefully unrolled my sleeve, he did it as gentle as possible, but exposing the wound like that made the stinging pain worse, and I clenched my jaw as I groaned.

'Luckily it looks like it's just a scrape wound.' He mumbled as he brought his face closer to my arm to examine it.

'What does that mean?' I mumbled, to tired to understand anything. I had lived in the cities for most of my life, so I never had to deal with things like that before. Ofcourse I knew what it meant, but I had no idea how to treat it...

'It means the bullet isn't in your arm; it just scraped open your skin. It hurts like hell, and there's lots of blood but its not as bad as still having the bullet in.'

'How can you tell?' I asked. He didn't seem like the kind of person that could tell different types of wounds apart, let alone see from the outside whether I had a bullet in my arm or not.

'When I was younger our dog ones accidentally got in the way of a shot during the hunting season.' He explained. 'I thought for sure he was gonna die, there was blood everywhere, There wasn't enough time to take him to a vet, so my Uncle took care of the wound, and he wanted me to help. My uncle told me the bullet hadn't hit him it only damaged… his… skin…' he started talking slower. 'Oh god… Cammie,' he said as he looked my in the eyes, his expression was more serious than I'd ever seen it before.

I was impressed Nick had helped treating a wound like that. Who would've thought he actually needed the knowledge one day?

'What?' I asked, as I carefully tried to touch the skin above the wound. Bad idea. I grimaced.

'How long ago did this happen?' he answered my question with a question, as he pressed the back of his cold hand against my forehead.

'I dunno…' I mumbled. 'I fainted so it could've been this morning, it could've also been yesterday. Why?'

'This is a big open wound…' he said as he gave me a helpless look. He didn't want to say it, and I started to realize what he meant. 'We don't have anything to clean it with...'

'No, no no no no no!' I shouted sounding more desperate with every no. This couldn't be happening. I started to hyperventilate and the flood of tears that had just stopped ran down my face ones again.

He grabbed both my wrists in order to calm me down, but it didn't work. The dizziness got worse.

The unspoken words hung heavily in between us, but it was as if Nick had shouted them in my face.

**_Cammie, you're infected._**


	9. Burning Daylight

**Burning daylight**

The silence in the small building was unbearable. I was infected, I wouldn't be making tomorrow. I would be walking around as a flesh-eating corpse, unless Nick would kill me before it could happen, but he'd been forced to kill his mother before, would he be mentally strong enough to do something like that again? I couldn't ask him that.

'Well what now?' I asked. I sounded tired, but not just because of my lack of sleep. I was tired of all of it, tired of the fucking apocalypse, tired of how every time I thought it couldn't get worse it did. Maybe dying wouldn't be that bad after all.

Nick hesitated. 'I- I don't know…' he finally mumbled with a defeated expression on his face.

'Then leave.' I said, but it hurt. I didn't want him to.

He sight heavily, slowly blinked once, as if he had to man up to tell me what he was about to say, and looked up at me, 'I won't leave you. He said, 'for once in my life I won't be a weakling.' He made an attempt to check the wound again, but I recoiled. 'Don't come near me!' I yelled, 'I don't want to feel the sudden urge to bite your face of…' I added quietly.

'Listen' he started,

'No!' I screamed as I backed away from him until I felt the wall against my back. 'Just go, leave me, and don't come back!'

He grabbed my shoulders, his hand accidentally touched the skin below the wound, and I felt the stinging and burning get worse, but I ignored it.

'Cammie listen to me!'

I looked at his light eyes and calmed down, 'What?' I asked as I sighed.

'The wound has had no direct contact with lurkers right?' he asked.

'No… I don't think so.' I answered. 'But like you said: this,' I pointed at my right arm, 'is a big open wound.'

'An indirect infection spreads much slower then if you would've been bit. If we find a way to clean it before the infection spreads, there is a chance we can safe you.'

'How would you know I'm not already infected?' I asked.

'Before my friends,' he hesitated, 'moved on, we helped a little girl with a bite on her arm, she claimed it was a dog bite.'

'Dog bite?' I asked, 'I think dogs are pretty much extinct nowadays…'

'That's what everyone thought,' he continued, 'but she cleaned it, stitched it up, and never turned. So I guess it takes a while before the virus is actually in your bloodstream.'

That girl must've been Clementine…'How big was her wound?' I asked.

'Bit bigger then yours.' He answered.

'Bigger?' I asked as I gave him a surprised look.

'Yeah, but yours is deeper.'

It was quiet for a while.

'We just gotta find a way to clean it…' Nick mumbled.

'Well there's plenty of water underneath that bridge.' I tried.

'That water is just as infected as the blood running through the lurker veins.' He said while chewing his nails.

'Yeah of course…' I mumbled, 'That makes sense…' I felt light in my head. I could only guess this had to be what it felt like to be drunk. None of my ideas made any sense and I felt stupid.

Nick's eyes widened, 'There's a ski lodge up the mountain!' he said as he got up and started pacing through the room. 'There's gotta be some sort of first aid kit there somewhere!'

'Or not…' I mumbled as I tried to ignore the fact I was starting to lose the feeling in my right arm.

Nick ignored me, 'but will you make it up the mountain?' he asked.

'Well that lodge is our only chance I guess, apart from that there's only forest here. But if you're sure you want to check that place maybe I should wait here?' I asked. 'I would only slow you down otherwise, I'm pretty much useless right now.' I knew that was true, and it annoyed me I was so dependent on him, more then I was willing to admit.

_Hi! I'm Cammie the burden. I get people killed!_

'No way.' He said in a determent tone. I could already sense I wouldn't win this argument. 'I'm not gonna lose you again.' He said as he walked towards the window to check if the coast was clear.

I blushed.

'C'mon.' he said as he walked towards me. 'We're burning daylight.'

I smiled as I tried to move, bad idea.

'Can you walk?' he asked as he helped me get up.

Of course I could, but that didn't mean it wouldn't hurt like hell. I nodded and limped towards the door with his supporting arm around my waist. The dizziness got worse every step, and it was as if someone ht my head with a hammer every heart beat. But I was going to make it. I had to, because I now had something to fight for again. Or rather, someone.

* * *

'Aagh!' I screamed as I almost fell, Nick caught me before I could though.

'It's okay, I got ya.' He said as he helped me up. He blushed when he realized how closely he held me in his arms. Nick had just let me go, hoping we would speed up like that, but walking got more and more difficult, and I had the feeling I didn't have full control of my own muscles anymore. I looked back and saw the vast river was no more than a cute puddle now.

'Ya know what?' he said as he bend over, 'I think we'll be faster this way.' He picked me up and started carrying me.

'N-no!' I yelped, my voice sounded raspy. I tried to free myself from his strong arms, but he wouldn't let me go.

'Please don't make this harder then it has to be.' He groaned.

'Nick, I can walk!' I said but I stopped struggling.

'Of course you can…' he soothed me. He really made me feel like a five-year-old toddler he was trying to calm down, and it annoyed me.

'Fine.' I gave up. 'But as soon as I attempt to bite you in your neck, you drop me and get the hell away from me. Got it?'

'Sure.' He said, seemingly pleased with this agreement, even though it had to be tiring carrying someone up a mountain. I felt guilty. I had been looking for him the past few days to help, but I really was a burden now.

'What happened to your rifle by the way?' I asked as I now noticed he wasn't carrying it anymore.

'I lost it.' He said. It was so calming when I pressed my ear against his chest and he spoke with that low voice. I closed my eyes, listened to his hart beat and focused on the rhythm of his steps.

In my head I sang the song my mother always sang to me when I was younger.

_Love is so risky,_

_I don't know where to start,_

_But the moment I met you,_

_You protected my heart._

_I need you by my side,_

_I can no longer hide,_

_It is a feeling I once was affraid of_

_But _

_You… taught… me… to… love_

* * *

**_Leave a review and tell me if you like it so far_**

**_Love you guys!_**


	10. I Need You

**I Need You**

'Cammie,' Nick suddenly stood next to me, I had a monster headache and hadn't even heard him approach me. If he were a lurker I would've been deader than I could be by tomorrow…

'Nick you startled me…' I mumbled as I tried getting up from the rocks I sat on, but quickly sat down again when I felt like throwing up.

'I found a stream, let's go there, drink, and then we'll move on its almost dusk.' Nick looked down at me and smiled.

'What's funny?' I asked as I slowly tried standing once more.

'Nothing.' He answered as he helped me get up. He wanted to pick me up again, but I pushed him away.

'I'm fine Nick I'll walk.' He looked like he wanted to protest but I didn't stand around to wait for it. I'd never thought Nick could be such a caring person.

When I arrived at the stream I smiled as I saw the water sparkling in the orange evening light. I kneeled down, cupped my hands, I drank the cold refreshing water greedily and splattered the rest of it in my face.

'Better.' I sighed.

I looked at my own reflection in the water. A pale girl with anxious eyes looked back at me. Nick's face appeared next to my reflection. Compared to him my face was almost white. I couldn't help but stare at his silver eyes, his black hair, and his cute smile…

I shook my head as I got up and staggered but kept standing. Focus Cammie…

'We don't have much time.' I said as I started walking up the mountain again, I didn't wait for Nick to finish drinking he would catch up to me in a second anyway.

The ski lodge was close now, just about 15 more minutes and we'd be there, but I was starting to wonder if I'd last that long. The feeling in my right arm had almost completely disappeared.

Noises beyond the bushes made my heart skip a beat. I held in my breath, but nothing followed.

Curious as I was, but shouldn't have been I pushed a bush out of the way, and immediately covered my nose when I smelled the horrible stench of decay.

A small lurker was tied to a tree, it used to be a little girl, barely older than 5. Her teddy bear lay next to her in the grass. When it saw me the lurker raised it's tiny head and reached out to me with her boney fingers.

'Cammie?' Nick's voice made the lurker gargle louder. 'Oh my God…' he whispered when he saw the scene.

'Your God doesn't exist anymore.' I mumbled. 'If he did, sick shit like this wouldn't happen.'

'Do you think her parents did this?' he asked, 'when she was bit?'

'I hope they did this because she was bit.' I answered, 'but I don't see any bite marks. It looks like she died out of starvation.'

'So she was just… left here?'

I couldn't look anymore, and moved away. Why did things like this happen? What had we done to deserve this?

Nick caught up with me in two steps, but didn't speak. There was a heavy silence between us.

'Just make sure you keep it bleeding.' Nick suddenly said changing the subject. On my right I saw a ski lift, how easy would it be to be carried up that way…

'Keep it bleeding?' I asked. 'How do you suggest I do that, and why?'

'As long as it bleeds your blood keeps the infection out.' He answered.

'I don't think I can afford to lose any more blood…' I mumbled.

He frowned. 'Please hold on a little longer, we're almost there.' He looked at me. I tried to smile, but his frown wouldn't disappear. He looked worried, and it startled me.

The lodge got closer and closer, almost there… the closer we got, the worse the headache got, and the dizzier I felt.

'Nick…I…' I didn't have the strength to finish my sentence. His safe arms were around me immediately.

I was weak. I couldn't even walk. What was I thinking? I wouldn't survive. I was infected. By tomorrow the only thing I would be able to think was food. The only thing reaching me would be sound, because sound meant food, and I would be drawn to the last survivors left like one of those mindless monsters.

'Its fine…' I mumbled. 'We're almost there right? I'll walk the last bit.'

'You sure?' Nick asked, he sounded even more worried than he looked.

'Sure.' I answered.

Take it easy, step-by-step. The ground started to undulate underneath my feet, was I hallucinating?

Just a little further…

When we finally stood in front of the ski lodge I felt like collapsing in the grass, and not waking up ever again.

Next to me Nick gasped for air. I turned my head his way.

'What happened here?' he asked no one in particular in disbelieve.

I looked at the same area he was pointing at, and my eyes widened. There were dead lurker corpses everywhere, I could see the ones closer to us were all sot to pieces.

'At least we know it'll be safe here…' Nick mumbled.

'Or not.' I whispered because it was all the sound I could force my voice to make. I started coughing, and it wouldn't stop.

The doors of the ski lodge were wide open, and I walked, or rather limped in.

I took a look around. Inside it wasn't much better than outside, I could see one, two, no, three dead corpses on the ground.

The most disturbing part of it, was that they hadn't been lurkers, whoever shot them had killed living people.

I walked over to the body of a big brown man. He had a bullet hole in his head. Poor guy.

I heard Nick walk in, and he stopped next to me.

'No…' he whispered 'No!' his voice cracked and he bent over. 'Oh my God Alvin!' he got up and examined the corpse of a bold man wearing a red sweater. He probably didn't recognize him, because he immediately ran over to the last body closer to the window. The window was broken, so I could only guess whoever had done this must've shot them from outside.

'Oh no…' he mumbled. 'This is… this is Johnny… that means…' his voice cracked again and he didn't finish his sentence.

Johnny… the name sounded strangely familiar… I'd heard it not to long ago but I couldn't remember to whom it belonged.

Nick dropped on the floor and buried his face in his hands. 'I won't find them anymore. They're gone.'

His voice sounded empty, just as the first time we met. Not good.

'Nick?' I asked, no response. 'Nick please…' I tried. He was losing it, he knew these people on the floor, and he couldn't deal with death.

'Nick!' I yelped. He wouldn't move. My words weren't even reaching him.

Everything was blurry, and the room was spinning around me. The loss of feeling in my right arm was starting to spread towards my shoulder. It was just because of the blood loss… the infection wasn't in my bloodstream yet. It couldn't be. I couldn't be turning, not now! Not when Nick was in this state, if I would, I'd kill him.

Every muscle in my body hurt more than it had in the last couple of days, and yet I couldn't even fully control them anymore. I needed to find that first aid kit. It had to be somewhere it had to! Otherwise…

My tired eyes looked around the room hastily, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of the red box with the white cross. I saw a counter, maybe there somewhere… I stumbled towards the counter and realized it had ones been some kind of mini kitchen.

Behind the counter I noticed a door, probably leading to a bigger kitchen. There had to be a first aid kit in there somewhere. Holding on to the counter I made my way towards it. When I had to let go of the counter to open the door I fell. I fell on my wounded arm, and it hurt.

But the pain was good! I hadn't felt anything in this arm the entire day, and pain meant it hadn't completely died yet. I tried to get up, but didn't have the strength. My every attempt to get hold of the counter again failed. I couldn't give up, not now. If I'd faint now I wouldn't wake up anymore, actually, I would, but it would be as a lurker.

Pushing my body to its limits I pulled myself up and made my way into the white kitchen. It was so white everywhere… but in this sea of whiteness, my eyes caught a red smudge, the first aid kit! Luckily it was close to me. I grabbed it, but my shaking hands couldn't get the fucking box open…

Suddenly something came back to me, Johnny… he had been one of Carver's men, the guy who had to have my dagger! If he still had it, I could open the damn kit with it!

Somehow my find of the kit encouraged my tired body to use up the last bit of strength it had. Slowly I managed to get closer to Johnny's corpse.

While I made my way towards him I apologized to God for denying his existence, and begged him to do me this one, last favor of giving me my dagger back.

When I finally got to Johnny, I fell on my knees and feverishly began searching his waist. His body lay in a puddle of blood, but I ignored it.

At last my hand got hold of the dagger's hilt and I triumphantly pulled it out. I opened the kit using my dagger as a crowbar, and finally it popped open and I turned it upside down.

Tears of relieve ran down my face. The kit contained everything I needed; alcohol to clean the wound with, sterile needles and bandages, I couldn't believe it!

But I couldn't do this myself, I couldn't even look at the wound, let alone effectively clean it and stich it up.

Nick still sat there on the floor with hollow eyes. I crawled towards him.

'Nick, please…' I sobbed, 'I need your help, I can't do this alone!'

Black smudges started blinding my vision from the corner of my eyes, I needed him to snap out of it now!

I wanted to grab his shoulders, shake him awake, or hit him. Anything it would take to get him to wake up.

So I did the last thing I could come up with, I grabbed his shirt with my shaking red hands, pulled him towards me and pressed my lips against his. I heard him make a surprised noise, but he didn't push me away, he wrapped his arms around me, and passionately kissed me back.

I closed my eyes and let the darkness overwhelm me. Would this be the end?

* * *

**Tell me if you liked it, and if not, what I can improve ;)**

**Love you guys**


	11. No Worries

**No Worries**

Everything around me was soft, as if I slept on a cloud. I could hear rain pouring down on the roof above my head, the wind howled. My eyelids quivered. When I finally opened them, the bright room hurt, and I immediately closed them again.

'Morning' I heard next to my head. The familiar voice caused my eyes to open again and I felt more awake than ever.

'Nick...where… are we?' I asked confused as I tried sitting up. Every muscle in my body hurt, and I lay down on my back again. Slowly everything came back to me. 'Are we in heaven?' I asked sleepy. My eyes widened, 'Did I eat you?!'

Nick laughed. 'In a way…' he gave me a knowing look and grinned.

I frowned. My memories were vague, we arrived at the ski lodge, my arm needed to get cleaned but Nick recognized the dead people on the floor. I needed his help but he wouldn't answer me, so I…

My face got as red as the fireplace behind Nick.

Quickly trying to change the subject, I sat up, and reached for the cut on my right arm with my left hand. When I carefully rolled up my sleeve I briefly touched it, it had been stitched and bandaged!

'You fixed my arm?' I asked surprised.

'Yeah, it wasn't too hard, you found all the stuff and when you fainted it was easy enough without you struggling.'

'It must've been scary knowing I could turn any moment.' I mumbled.

'You're worth it.' He answered.

I didn't like the flirty undertone of the conversation, it somehow it scared me. I tried going on about something else. 'So you've never done this before?' I asked pointing at the stitches.

'Well I helped my uncle stich up my dog, that was quite a struggle, and I've paid attention when Carlos stitched up Clementine's arm…'

'Carlos?' I asked happy to have something to talk about, partially because it made me forget the pain on my arm, but also because the flirting made me feel really uncomfortable.

'He's one of the people I was with before…' he mumbled as he looked away pained.

Ouch, it wasn't a good idea to remind him of that. At the same time I also felt an ice cube glide down my spine, I'd sort of forgotten, because of the whole Carver thing, but I'd seen Nick's friends, now that I didn't have to worry about my arm anymore I could continue carrying that burden. I had to tell him…

'Nick…' I began.

'Hm?'

I looked him in the eyes, but just as I wanted to tell him the truth, I couldn't.

'H-have you been waiting for me to wake up all this time?' I quickly added.

He smiled, 'Not all the time, I eh…' his face darkened, 'also carried the bodies outside…'

'I'm…so sorry.' I mumbled.

'One of these dead people was one of Carver's men.' he explained, presuming I didn't know this yet, 'another one was Alvin, a friend of mine.'

'I'm so sorry Nick…' I mumbled once more as I looked at my lap.

The sheets of the bed I lay in were dirty because of the bloodstains on my arm and clothes.

'Can we go look for a stream or something?' I asked. 'I could really go for a bath…'

Nick's face lit up. 'Believe it or not, but this place actually has running water and electricity!'

I frowned. 'Electricity? How is that even possible?'

'There's a wind turbine out there, and it provides this place with enough energy to heat the water, cook or turn the lights on.'

'That's… amazing…' I mumbled with a surprised smile on my face. How long had it been since I'd last taken a shower, or turned lights on…

'The shower is over there, and I found you some clean clothes, you might wanna wear these since it'll get a lot colder. I'll go… look for some food or something…' he mumbled, as he got up from the chair he sat in and moved towards the door.

I looked over to a pile of clothes next to the bed. A light pink sweater and big brown boots, both with fur lining, brown pants, they looked fine. Everything seemed my size and warm, but then I saw a huge pink whale sized bra on the pile, and I laughed.

Nick followed my gaze and blushed as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. 'I…eh… I dunno if you need it but eh…'

'No no.' I laughed as I looked up at him. 'I do, thanks, but what size do you think I have?' Nick got even more red and looked down at the floor. 'I dunno… I'm no expert at this, but from what I saw…'

I raised an eyebrow,

'I mean of course I didn't see! Well not on purpose or anything…But ya know… I mean eh…' he sighed, '…that came out wrong.'

I laughed even louder, it kind of hurt my chest, but I hadn't had such a good laugh for days, maybe even longer. The only reason to laugh nowadays would be because of a lurker doing something stupid, and thereby messing up his chance on getting you. Apart from that most of the funny things out there had disappeared when the plague spread.

'Don't worry about it I'll find something myself.'

Slowly I tried standing and I carefully slid from the bed. When my feet touched the ground, I really felt like a baby being taught how to walk, with Nick next to me, his arms ready just in case I'd fall.

'I got it.' I reassured him. 'Don't worry about it. The shower was in there right?' I asked as I pointed towards the white door on the other side of the small room.

He nodded, and his face got serious again as the red color faded out. 'Can you manage?' he asked as he approached me to help me get up.

My body still hurt, but I could walk again, and I knew a shower would definitely help. Even if I wouldn't manage, I didn't need Nick in the same room with me when I took a shower.

'I'll manage.' I answered. 'Thanks for the concern though.'

He didn't move away, but hesitated as if he wanted to say something else. Insecurely he leaned foreword, closer and closer to my face… when I realized what he was planning I started to panic, and quickly moved towards the door, pretending I hadn't realized he'd just tried to kiss me.

He rubbed the back of his head again and looked away.

'I'll be fine.' I told him as I opened the door of the bathroom.

He nodded and without saying anything he left the room, leaving me, and my confused mind behind.

I staggered just a bit as I walked into the bathroom. I closed the door behind me, locked it and started taking off my clothes. There was a big mirror in the bathroom, in which I could see my entire body. I hadn't had a good look at myself since way before, back when my appearance still mattered to me. I was even skinnier than I thought. My entire body looked tired, there were purple bags underneath my light brown eyes, but the spark glowing in them made me look more awake and alert than I actually was.

The bandaged wounded arm looked clean compared to the rest of my body. Blood was all over me, in my hair, on my face.

I walked over to the sink and washed my hands.

Slowly and carefully I took the bandage of the wound and examined the stiches. They'd been done roughly, but they'd stopped the bleeding. When I opened the medicine cabinet I found some more supplies, including some more bandages and a small bottle of alcohol.

With a smile on my face I turned on the shower. The rusty showerhead made a weird noise, and I started to worry, but at last ice-cold water flowed down the sink.

I didn't care about whether it was warm or cold. It felt amazing and incredibly refreshing to have a shower after surviving in the forest all these days.

Blood, and mud contaminated the water flowing down the shower drain. I found some cheap hotel soap in the shower and cleaned myself with it. For the first time in years I smelled like roses again.

I couldn't believe this luxury, or the fact I used to have constant access to it in the past. How unaware and unthankful I'd been for these small things like this, it was almost embarrassing how I needed an apocalypse to learn how to appreciate what I had…

'Now the fun part…' I mumbled, as I took the bottle of alcohol and carefully rubbed a napkin with the fluid around the edges of the wound. Tears started welling up in my eyes and I clenched my jaw. Wow that hurt!

'Bad…Fucking…Idea.' I groaned as I put the bottle back in the medicine drawer.

When I entered the room again I got a white dressing gown from the closet in the small room.

The rain fell from the sky. The lurkers also got to shower today.

I opened the balcony doors and smelled the fresh scent of the rain. I closed my eyes and listened to the beautiful sound of the leaves, waving in the howling wind… it was almost funny how happy a shower and clean clothes made me.

I walked in the room, but left the balcony doors open, and started looking through a pile of clothes in the back of the closet. I finally found a bra about my size.

The fact I was so lucky with everything today worried me, because that meant it could only get worse from here.

As I got up, I dropped the dressing gown on the floor, and put on my underwear.

When I turned around to take the clothes from the pile, I saw the door was half open, and in it's opening stood a red headed Nick.

For a second I just stood there, paralyzed, but then I realized I wasn't wearing anything apart from my underwear. I could feel my head turning red and without thinking about it I grabbed a pillow from my bed and hurled it at Nick's face.

'Don't you know how to knock?' I asked angrily as I took the second pillow from the bed and threw it at him again.

'I'm sorry!' he said smothered when the next pillow hit his head. He turned around and closed the door behind him. 'I- I didn't see anything I swear…'

I knew he was lying, but things were already awkward as they were.

I put on the comfortable clothes and made my way downstairs. The room was quite cozy with the lights on. Of course, the fact there weren't bodies and blood anymore also improved the atmosphere.

I found Nick, siting on a big red couch next to a big fireplace. Behind him was a huge Christmas tree with an angel at its top.

We always had a silver bird on top of our tree, my mother would tell me it guarded, and watched over our family, it kept us from harm, kept us safe. How ironic the silver bird broke the last Christmas before the apocalypse…

Nick lifted his eyes from the fireplace when I sat down next to him.

'Listen I'm really sorry about-'

'Don't worry about it.' I interrupted him.

It was quiet for a moment, until Nick got up, walked towards the kitchen and came back with an opened can.

'Here' he said as he gave me a can of beans.

I ate greedily and I felt full when I got up and threw the empty can of beans in the bin. I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to be full.

I sat down next to Nick again and realized he had also taken a shower. He also whore different clothes, a grey sweater that matched his eyes, black jeans, his boots and of course his cap.

I felt strange, but I noticed this feeling had to be happiness, I felt so satisfied sitting next to him while the fire crackled, and the rain poured out of the sky outside.

I knew we really weren't actually that safe at all, the lodge with its light was like a will-o'-the-wisp in the dark night, and we had no weapons, apart from a dagger, and a rifle we found close to the front doors. Both of the weapons were out of reach right now though, and if we were ambushed by strangers things wouldn't be pretty.

But right that moment I didn't want to think about it and I let the worries go.

Without me realizing it, I got a little closer to Nick, just because it felt better to be near him. The more time I spent with him, the closer I wanted to be to him. That couldn't be a good sign.

But just as I wanted to create some distance between us, he stretched out his arm, and by doing that, puled me closer towards him.

I gave up and rested my head on his shoulder. It felt weird, but at the same time relaxing to be so close to him. I closed my eyes and drifted of, I could almost feel him hesitate, but he gently pressed his cool lips against my forehead.

I wanted to free myself from his embrace, create distance. Love was dangerous. I couldn't fall in love with him. I wanted to push him away, make clear I didn't want to get hurt, or worse, hurt him…

But I just didn't have the strength tonight, and even though my head knew love wasn't an option, my heart wouldn't give in.

* * *

**Hey guys, **

**Sorry, this chapter was a bit uneventful compared to the previous ones, I felt like Cammie deserved some peace. More troubles in the next chapter ;)**

**Hope you enjoyed, tell me what to improve!**

**Love you guys :) **


	12. An Old Friend

**An Old Fiend**

I slowly made my way downstairs, testing my new boots. I had to know whether I could still quietly sneak up on people, or lurkers…

The boots didn't squeak as I walked, that was a good start.

I saw Nick standing at the counter. His back faced my way. He clearly wasn't paying any attention to me. Perfect.

An evil smile appeared on my face as I hid behind the side of the counter.

_Three…_

…_Two…_

…_One!_

Without any warning I jumped up from behind the counter, on Nick's back. He screamed out of surprise, which caused me to laugh and lose all the strength in my muscles. But he was much stronger than me anyway, whether I laughed or not.

After some struggling he managed to fight me down. He picked me up, carried me to towards the couch and dropped me there.

'What was that for?' he asked out of breath. 'Almost got me a heart attack!' he said as he reached for his heart.

I laughed as I pointed at my boots, 'They work!'

He raised one eyebrow 'The fuck they do…'

I walked towards the kitchen to get some food as I hummed a song.

'You are happy.' Nick pointed out as he sat down on the couch. 'I've never heard you sing before.'

'That's because I don't.' I repeated as I searched through the counter's drawers. 'I hum.' I added, 'That's different.'

'I bet you could sing if you tried.' He said flirty. Crap there was that flirty tone again. He tended to do that often lately. It scared me.

'Could be, but I don't want to.' I answered.

'I'll get you singing one day.' He decided.

'Good luck with that.' I laughed. I found a can of peaches in one of the counter's drawers, got my dagger out of its hilt, and used it to open the can with. When I finished I put it down on the counter and walked towards Nick.

I looked over at the fireplace as I sat down next to him, eating from the can. The fire was lit, but it smoldered faintly not providing much heat. 'I'll go find some more wood to get it burning.' I said as I left the can on the couch, got up and walked towards the door.

Nick got up. 'Hang on a sec, I'll come with you.'

'Nah,' I said quickly as I kept walking, 'don't worry about it, I'll be back before ya know it.'

'I think it's safer I we-'

'I'll be fine Nick.' I interrupted him.

He didn't seem too happy about it but nodded. 'Make sure the wood is dry though, otherwise it'll only smoke.'

'Sure.' I said, and with that I closed the glass doors behind me. I didn't really want to leave him, but I didn't trust myself around him. I couldn't get to dependent on him.

* * *

I walked along the forest path for a while, occasionally picking up some dead branches along the way. I just decided I had enough, and I wanted to make my way back to the lodge, but froze when I heard moaning close by.

I immediately dropped the wood, and reached for my dagger, but couldn't find it.

…I left it at the lodge…. I face palmed myself, how could I be so fucking stupid?

I climbed the nearest tree to hide from the upcoming lurker, but noticed it wasn't alone. It was stalking another victim.

A woman with brown hair, wearing a light brownish jacket came running through the woods. She limped, as if she strained her ankle or something… limping almost the exact same way behind her was a lurker. It flailed its arms and almost caught up with the woman.

'Help!' she screamed. 'Someone, please help!' the lurker jumped towards her, which caused her to fall over. There they lay, in the grass. The lurker tried to bite her in her face, the blood on its face dripped on hers and she kept screaming while trying to push the heavy body of her.

I had a strange déjà vu feeling and sighed. I was seriously going to get myself killed with all these good intentions one day…

I jumped out of the tree and looked around. Without my dagger, I was going to have to improvise, and that was hard when you couldn't think because of a woman screaming next to your ear…

Apart from the pile of branches I'd dropped on the ground there wasn't much to use as a weapon, and I highly doubted the dry dead branches would be strong enough to penetrate a lurker head.

The woman couldn't see me, and kept screaming for help, she was going to draw others… I had to hurry.

Just then I noticed a big rock from the corner of my eyes.

Bingo.

It looked really heavy, but it was all I had. I picked up the heavy rock, ignoring the pain in my right arm, carried it over to the woman struggling with the living corpse, and hurled it at the lurker's head.

The woman made a pained sound when the destroyed lurker head landed on her breast, but she lived.

I pushed the heavy body of her, while she picked up the rock with both her hands and threw it next to her on the bloody ground.

I held out my hand, she took it and I helped her up.

'That was close.' I said with a smile. 'Are you okay?'

'Th…thank you…' the woman stammered as she bended over to catch her breath.

'Don't worry a-' I didn't finish my sentence when I heard voices coming from deeper into the woods.

I looked at the woman, but she didn't appear to be alarmed by them.

'Christa, where the fuck are you?!' a familiar voice shouted.

My eyes widened in horror. I knew that voice, I knew it too well. That same voice had spoken the words that almost led to my death months ago, that same voice had haunted me in my nightmares for months after I left my group. My group hadn't been happy when I left them, especially not my old buddy Fred. He and a few others were making their way towards us, and if they saw me I was done for.

Without saying anything to the Christa –woman, I ran back towards the lodge, pushing the bushes aside as I ran.

_They couldn't see me, he couldn't see me!_

I remembered it too well. That evening when I left my group, I'd heard his plan, they were discussing who it would be, and then he spoke those words that made me lose faith in humanity. Thinking about it, it was as if he whispered them in my ear right that moment…

_How about Cammie?_

He had been planning on killing me, because I was a burden. That would be the official motive. I'd been an emotional wreck at the time, because my mother had died. Everyone was hungry, and we were in a big group. Sacrificing one, in order to feed many was the only solution according to that sick cannibal. No one would realize if something accidentally happened to me. Thinking about again made me feel sick. When Fred discussed it with others, they thought he was joking, but I knew how serious he'd been.

In the apocalyptic world, everyone slowly got crazy. You couldn't trust anyone, not even yourself. When you did, they lost their minds. Some before, and some after you did. And who could blame them? Just like Nick said, we live in a fucking nightmare. People didn't care about anyone but themselves. It only takes the dead rising to turn a perfect community of living beings into a hell where everyone kills each other.

People like Fred were the worst kind. Eating living people in order to survive, that was sick, and it made them no better than the lurkers out there. But what made Fred especially scary was how it seemed like a game to him. If he decided who his pray was, he wouldn't let it go easily, and I'd made him into an enemy after refusing to kiss him that one night… I knew why Fred had it out for me. I knew why he really wanted to kill me, and that was because he couldn't stand rejection.

I could never forget that night, even though I'd ousted the memory, I knew I would never forget it. That look in his eyes, the way he laughed… I had been afraid of meeting him again since the day I left him, I'd been afraid of running into him every moment of the day, but it never happened, and when it didn't, I just started assuming he died at some point. I hoped he had, but of course not. Fred wouldn't die, and now he was here, and if he saw me I was as good as dead. If only I hadn't made that stupid mistake that one night…

* * *

_A hand poking me caused me to slowly open my eyes._

'_Cammie, it's your turn.'_

'_With who…?' I mumbled as I slowly pushed myself up._

'_Ehm, Fred.'_

_Great, lookout with that snake… _

_I looked around. The entire camp was asleep. We were with so many, at least 50 people. That was safer, but it also meant at least 50 mouths to feed. Many of us had fallen up north though, people like my mother…_

_I got up and located Fred. He was sitting close to the campfire burning some twigs._

_As soon as I stepped away from my sleeping bag, the previous lookout stepped in it and fell asleep. In our group no one had any personal belongings, we shared everything, also weapons. We all got to keep one weapon to ourselves, but we had to share the rest. I didn't really mind, my dagger was enough for me anyway._

'_Hey there beautiful.' Fred said as I sat down next to him on a fallen tree trunk._

_I shivered, but not because of the cold. The light of the torches made the shadows move causing every one of them to look like a possible threat._

'_Are you cold?' he asked as he took off his yellow jacket and hung it around my shoulders. I shook it of, _

'_No I'm fine thank you.' I said as I shove away from him._

_Ever since I'd joined this huge group, the guy had been flirting with me, it disgusted me, but I knew how dangerous he was, I didn't want to upset him. He'd killed people before, making it seem like accidents. No one knew, but I did. I knew this guy too well. I didn't want to be his next victim._

'_Look at the stars, aren't they gorgeous?' he asked._

'_Hm.' I said, not really wanting to respond._

_He grabbed my hand, how subtle…_

_I tried pulling it back, but his sweaty hand wouldn't let me go._

'_Listen, we are the lookouts, we need to pay attention to the forest.' I said still trying to free my hand from his. 'Not to each other.' I added._

'_No one will know…' he said as he leaned closer._

_Oh fuck_

'_Listen Fred I really can't-' he got even closer and I placed both my hands on his chest to push him away. _

'_Don't be so boring.' He said, 'you know you want this…'_

'_I, don't!' I said, just a bit too loud._

'_Sh sh, it's okay…' he said as he placed his finger on my lips. _

_I got up and started walking away from him, but he caught up with me and grabbed my wrist._

'_Don't be so difficult Cammie…' he began, but I wouldn't let him finish, I was sick of the flirting._

'_How clear do I have to be?!' I asked in a raised voice. 'I'm not in love with you, I don't even fucking like you, leave me the fuck alone!' _

'_Make me.' He said with a grin as he pulled my face closer towards him. _

_Fine_

_I hit him in his face as hard as I could. He staggered to maintain his balance and carefully shifted his jaw from left to right._

'_You shouldn't have fucking done that…' he said ominous as he ran towards me. I ran away from him. I heard him behind me, the leaves crackled underneath his feet._

_I couldn't even think clearly, everyone was asleep, no one would notice if something 'accidentally' happened to me. I ran deeper and deeper into the woods until the torches we lit to secure our camp were no more than wisps in the darkness. If only it was day, Fred wouldn't hurt me if everyone saw him, that would get him kicked out of the group. _

_Everyone was asleep… that's it!_

_I ran back towards camp, and dodged a lurker limping towards me from the darkness._

_When I entered the circle of torches I walked over to the first person I saw, curled up in his sleeping bag and kicked him awake. _

'_Ouch! What the fuck was that for?!' a tired voice whispered. _

'_Sorry…' I whispered back. 'I-its your turn.'_

_A man I didn't even recognize got up and limped towards the campfire, rubbing the painful place on his thigh where I'd kicked him. _

_I lay down in his still warm sleeping bag and closed my eyes. Fred had given up the hunt. _

_I heard him sit down next to the man and they started talking. _

'_Man I'm so hungry…' he said as I heard him throw tings at the campfire._

'_Yeah…' the man responded. _

'_What would it taste like?' he asked with that terrifying dreamy voice._

'_What?'_

'_Human.' He responded, his voice sounded colder than the night itself_

'_I hope you're joking…'_

'_Sometimes the hunger really makes me wonder.' _

'_I don't even wanna know.'_

_Fred continued, 'I mean, it must be pretty good, if all the walkers want it.' he laughed quietly. 'But who to eat…?'_

_The man thought he was kidding, and played along. 'I dunno, Jared is old, he doesn't have much time left anyway.' He laughed, 'But the meat would be dry.'_

'_Yeah… maybe Lilly?' Fred asked._

'_Nah, she's pretty much the group leader, people would notice.'_

_I could feel Fred's cold gaze shift over to where I lay, 'How about Cammie?'_

* * *

I finally got to the lodge, and ran in without hesitation.

'We need to go!' I screamed to Nick who was still sitting on the big red couch.

He got up. 'What's wrong?' he asked as he ran towards me.

I paced through the room trying to get a clear head. 'Listen Nick, I don't have time to explain it now but we really NEED to go!'

'But-'

'Please Nick, PLEASE trust me.' I pleaded as I ran towards the bench where we left our weapons. Now that I saw them lying there like that in the open I couldn't believe how lucky we'd been no one else discovered this lodge. They could've easily crept in, taken our weapons and killed us…

I grabbed my unloaded pistol and dagger. 'Grab all the food you can carry, and take your rifle!' I shouted as I looked at the edge of the woods, hoping I wouldn't see the silhouettes of my nightmare looming from the darkness.

I knew I might be exaggerating, he could've changed, but I doubted it. Fred had always been an assertive person. I'd learned that from all the time I spent with him in the past. When he had something in his mind he wouldn't stop, until he got what he wanted. If he truly hated me, and I was almost certain he did, he wouldn't show any mercy, but kill me on sight with a smile on his face. I didn't want to take the risk. I turned around and saw Nick, putting some cans in a bag.

'You ready?' I asked.

He nodded. 'Let me just grab my rif-' he got interrupted by the two glass doors being pushed open loudly. My heart skipped a beat.

I made a gesture with my hand indicating he had to follow me, and we snuck upstairs together.

'Ho-ly shit, take a look at this place!' a loud voice shouted as he made his way into the lodge. Yup, that was Fred, no doubt.

* * *

**Hey guys,**

**Sorry, this chapter might have been a bit boring with the long flashback, but I noticed even though I planned on writing about him, I never really introduced Fred as a character, so I felt like I had to write some background info on him.**

**Hope you enjoy it so far, tell me if you like it, and what I can improve!**

**Your reviews really make my day!**

**love you guys! :) **


	13. Fulfilling a debt

**Fulfilling a debt**

'Is it safe?' a man's voice I didn't recognize asked.

'No idea.' Fred answered. I could hear him as he walked around through the lodge.

The sound of his footsteps was nerve wrecking, but I couldn't see him because of a big wooden pillar in the way.

'Look at that.' Fred said as he made his way towards the fireplace, I ducked so that he wouldn't see my head. 'The fire's still lit.' He shouted at one of his people across the room, 'there's gotta be people here!'

My anxious eyes met Nick's, he frowned and looked away as if listening to whether Fred was close or not.

Even though he wasn't the brightest of people, Fred wasn't stupid either.

'Hey,' the other man's voice called out, 'you take a look upstairs.' He shouted at someone.

I closed my eye and squeezed Nick's hand when I heard someone approach the stairs.

The steps creaked under his weight, but when he got upstairs, I noticed he wasn't a he at all.

When she noticed us, Chirsta's eyes widened, but she didn't speak. She slowly opened her mouth as if considering calling the others, which she probably was.

I shook my head, _please _I mouthed silently as I looked at her with pleading eyes.

If she spoke up now, my life could be over…

'Well?' I heard from downstairs, 'found anyone?'

I closed my eyes again, ready to hear her betray us.

It was quiet for a second. The silence was unbearable. 'No.' the woman said.

My eyes shot open again and looked at her, but she turned around and walked down the stairs.

I got up carefully and my eyes met Christa's, she looked around, and made a small hand gesture to tell me it was safe.

'C'mon.' I whispered, and Nick nodded. We carefully made our way downstairs. The stairs creaked, but the two other men and Fred were in the kitchen, so they probably hadn't heard it.

I couldn't see Christa anywhere, so I assumed she was either trying to distract her group so that we could sneak out, or wandered around somewhere else, so that she could deny ever seeing us just in case we got caught.

Either way, we had to get out of here as fast as we could.

I tiptoed towards the door.

Nick's heavy footsteps were a lot louder than mine, but luckily we remained unnoticed. How ironic I'd done the same thing this morning to practice…

Suddenly I remembered my dagger, it was still on that counter! I considered just leaving it, but then changed my mind as I remembered how helpless I'd felt when I had to get that lurker off Christa, the next time, it could be me underneath that lurker corpse, and I might not be as lucky with the rock supplies…

I quietly made my way to the counter and heard Fred's voice coming from the kitchen.

'What are you doing?' Nick whispered quietly.

My own heartbeat sounded as loud as gunfire in my ears. I just hoped no one else noticed.

When I got to the counter, the dagger wasn't there anymore. I knew exactly where I'd left it, but it wasn't there anymore.

Footsteps got louder, and the door to the kitchen was pushed open half, the kitchen light seeped through the creek.

'W-Wait!' I heard from inside, Christa caused the door to close again.

'What?' Fred's voice asked annoyed.

No time to lose, I ran towards the doors, away from the counter and accepted the fact my dagger and I had to part ways… again.

Nick held one of the doors open for me and I could feel the refreshing cold air blow in my face, but just as I wanted to walk out, a voice behind me caused me to flinch.

'Cammie.' Fred said my name as if he wasn't surprised to see me at all. It frightened me.

'Fred.' I said, and I hoped it sounded calmer than I felt, as I looked at him. He hadn't changed a bit; he only seemed somewhat skinnier. His red hair flamed like the fire on the other side of the room, and he looked at me with his small blue eyes.

His eyes were a lot different from Nick's; his were dead, just as lifeless as a pair of lurker eyes.

'How…' he hesitated, '…special to see you again, you shouldn't have made us worry so much my love, you shouldn't.' he said as he approached me.

His voiced caused goosebumps to run up and down my arms and I shivered.

'I really thought you were dead…' he said, as he kept getting closer, 'until I found this.' He showed me my dagger and balanced it on the tip of his finger. 'Honestly Cammie, you should be more careful before you lose even more, I thought losing your mother taught you to look after your things…' he said it as if he regretted it, but I sensed the obvious sarcasm behind his words.

I didn't say anything, but gave him an angry look and squeezed my eyes when he pulled his gun out, and pointed it at me.

'Cammie, you and I have a certain debt to fulfill, you know that right?' He said with a grin, as he threw the dagger on the ground, it made a pure _cling_ noise when the metal of the blade touched the cold floor tiles. Nick stepped in between us before he could get any closer.

I grabbed his shoulder, he turned around half to look at me. I shook my head. 'He's my problem, I'll deal with this.' I whispered, even though I had no idea how.

Fred seemed entertained, 'Is this your new boyfriend Cammie?' he asked as he laughed. He stopped walking when he stood in front of Nick. Nick refused to step aside.

I suppressed a smile when I noticed how weak and wimpy Fred looked in comparison to Nick who stood there with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Fred seemed to hesitate for a second, but then looked at the gun he was holding, and smiled.

'No!' I screamed as I felt the tears well up in my eyes.

'So he is...' Fred mumbled as he attempted to walk around Nick to face me.

Nick wouldn't have it though, and he turned so that Fred couldn't get any direct eye contact with me.

'You annoy me.' Fred said, as if he was a king bored with the entertainment. 'Out of my way!' he punched Nick in his face, and I heard a sickening sound when his fist hit Nick's jaw, and Nick fell over.

He wanted to get up immediately to fight back, but Fred now pointed his gun at him. 'No no no no, you fucking stay where you are!'

I wanted to kneel down besides him to see if he was okay, but Fred continued as he brought his face even closer to mine. 'So he is…' he laughed a psychopathic laugh, and I attempted to recoil when I smelled his breath, but he grabbed my chin with one sweaty hand, while he kept pointing his gun at Nick. 'He is your boyfriend, how cute. I think I'll give boyfriend a little show before he dies, I always get what I want Cammie, you know that…'

And with that he leaned closer and kissed me with his warm lips. It was horrible, I desperately tired to push him away from me, but he wouldn't let me go. I opened my eyes and saw his men grinning in the corner while pointing their guns at me, I saw Christa standing in the other corner of the room, her arms crossed in front of her chest, her eyes closed, as if she whished to be somewhere else.

It seemed like forever when he finally let me go. I spat on the ground and wiped my mouth clean, but I knew I would never get that taste out.

Fred didn't care, he got what he wanted and faced Nick. 'Any last words before I kill you and your cute little girlfriend?'

I looked around, willing to beg anyone showing the least bit of mercy for help, but the only one looking at me, instead of Fred slowly approaching Nick with a sadistic smile on his face, was Christa.

She looked at me, and I could see remorse in her eyes, but she couldn't help me now, I knew that.

I started to panic. The tears were almost running down my face. He was going to kill Nick, Nick was going to die and it would be my fault. Because of my past, my problems. Talk about being even… now he'd get shot as well.

_Sadly the bullet wouldn't miss Nick like it missed me…_

Suddenly I remembered the unloaded gun in my pocket. I got it out and cleared my throat, hoping my acting skills were convincing enough, hoping he wouldn't realize how scared I actually was…

Fred turned his head but looked back at Nick right away, uninterested. But his eyes widened and he turned around to face me when he realized I was holding a gun as well.

'Shoot him,' I said, 'and my final action will be killing you right on the spot.'

I heard the two men around me strengthen the grip around their guns, but Fred raised his hand.

'You wouldn't.' he said slowly, but I could hear a slight tone of doubt in his voice.

'Try me.' I said, 'actually… don't' I quickly added.

'You are to much of a fucking coward to-' he couldn't finish his sentence, when he fell to the ground,

'But I'm not.' Nick said as he pulled my dagger out of Fred's back, causing a bloodstain to form on his sweater.

I quickly took Fred's gun from his now lifeless hand, and pointed the unloaded one at one guy, and the loaded one at another. The men just stood there for a second, as if they were still trying to comprehend what was happening.

I couldn't believe how stupid they were. It was as if they weren't even realizing they were also holding guns.

They both kneeled down besides Fred.

'Go.' I heard from behind me. Christa said as she stepped forward to stand next to me.

'You could come with us.' I whispered,

But Christa shook her head. 'I'm looking for someone, and I'll find her up north.'

I nodded. Just that moment, Fred reached out for me with the bloody hand he just pressed against the wound.

'I knew you were a coward…' he whispered because it was the only sound he could make. 'This world is too much for you Cammie, give up.'

I knew he was right in a way. I wanted to turn around, walk away from him, but I couldn't. I had to listen to what he said, and I drowned in his deep lifeless blue eyes.

'Finish it.' He pleaded, although it sounded more like an order. His voice got louder, 'Fulfill that debt of ours, I know you want to.'

I did, I wished I was mentally strong enough to stomp on his head as if he were a lurker. But I couldn't. He was a person, and even though he was Fred, I couldn't kill him.

I felt Nick grabbing my hand to guide me away from the scene.

Fred smiled, 'Running away from your problems just like that last time won't help you Cammie, it won't get you anywhere. I will hunt you down again, count on that.'

I looked at him with cold eyes. 'You don't deserve death. You deserve the torture of this world.'

That caused him to laugh out loud, but his laughter ended in a cough.

I knew he was right. The wound in his back was too shallow to kill him, he was too weak to do anything now, but he would recover. Unless I would end it tonight…

But I wouldn't kill a living, breathing person. I wasn't that far gone, like him.

Nick looked at me, waiting for me to decide what to do. I grabbed his hand.

Nick and I left the lodge together, we ran through the darkness as fast as we could, before Fred's friends came back to their senses.

I didn't look back as I left the guy that had played the starring role in my nightmares for a long time.

'Was it true what he said?' I asked Nick when we slowed down our pace. I didn't look at Nick, but stared at the moon.

'What, that I'm your boyfriend?' he smiled, but the smile melted of his face when he realized I wasn't in the mood for jokes.

I ignored him. 'That I run away from my problems.'

'I guess running away is the best option sometimes.' He said in that reassuring low voice.

I stopped walking, and he turned around to see what was wrong with me.

I leaned over to him and immediately felt his arms around me. I pressed my face against his chest. I thought every guy out there was like Fred, cold, heartless. But Nick was different.

Fred was right; this world was too much for me, too much for me alone, but I had Nick. I needed him to survive.


	14. Trouble On The Road

**Trouble on the road**

My eyes followed the bird. When I approached it, it looked at me with its tiny black eyes and flew of. It gracefully landed on a tree branch above me, tilted its head and looked at me, almost as if it defied me. It laughed at my face. I hated to admit it, but I was really jealous of that feather ball. The bird's life had barely changed when the apocalypse happened, but for us humans, it was back to nature with all of its cruelties. Whenever the bird wanted to, it could fly off, away from all of this. If I reincarnated, I wanted to come back as a bird. Flying freely, not having to worry about anything, leaving it all behind with one wing beat.

It was at that point I realized the hunger was making me think weird things. I violently moved my good arm to scare away the bird, just because it annoyed me it had something I once had, but could never have again; freedom.

The bird flew away, probably to a better place, a place I could only dream of being…

The evening sun began disappearing behind the trees. I was starting to get sick of the trees, but the woods were undoubtedly safer than the cities. How long had it been since I'd last seen a skyscraper though?

'Supper.' Nick appeared from behind a tree and threw one of our last cans of food at me.

He caught me off-guard and the can hit my stomach before falling to the ground.

'Ow…' I mumbled sarcastically while I bent over to pick the can up.

Nick sat down in the grass cross-legged, and invited me to come sit next to him by knocking on the ground.

I also sat down, but at least a meter away from him. I heard him sigh. It seemed as if he was going to ask why I wouldn't sit next to him, but he shrugged, leaned forward and without asking, took my dagger from my belt to open his can with.

'Did you clean it like I asked you to?' he asked as he gave the blade a suspicious look.

'Eh…' I rubbed the back of my head as I got up. 'Sorry, I forgot. I'll be back in a sec!' I snatched the dagger out of his hand and dashed of into the woods looking for a stream. Luckily there were many small streams up north.

The one advantage of the northern part of the woods was the water access.

A few days ago, Nick and I had been attacked by Fred ad a few others, and I'd been really on edge ever since. It was just like the first months after I left my group.

He wouldn't get out of my head… every time I closed my eyes I had the feeling he would sneak up on me to kill me, or worse, kiss me again… maybe I shouldn't have left him. When it came to it I couldn't kill him. I really was weak.

The lodge had been the ideal place, but staying was too risky, who knew how long it would take before others discovered it? They could easily outnumber us…

Taking risks wasn't a smart thing to do nowadays. With winter coming, it would take us a long while before reaching a warmer place. The winter was going to be unbearably cold, and there was definitely going to be a food shortage of some sort. In a way we took a great risk no matter what we did…

I was wondering if I'd make it to see the first daisies in the meadows in spring, I really hoped I would. Everything died during the winter, but spring was the season of life, when all the plants bloomed again…

I'd just have to survive the season of death. No big deal...

It disturbed me I started calling winter the season of death. I used to love the snow, with its glittery white beauty. But now, that deceptive beauty meant nothing but a cold death. At least freezing to death was said to be painless. If I had to go, dying like that wouldn't be the worst of options. But no matter how much it would hurt, I wouldn't turn. Never. I'd rather get my head smashed in with a hammer than become one of those mindless creatures, ruining other people's lives. If you could even call this way of being, living.

I lived, as in that my heart still beat, but really living, enjoying my moments of existence… I'd given up on that a long time ago, at least that's what I thought, but things had started changing since I met Nick. I was still trying to figure out whether that was a good thing or not.

I woke up from my thoughts when I saw cold water running down a hill's slope. I kneeled down and held the blade of my dagger in the water until it sparkled more than the water itself. Everything around me was so quiet… just the way it was supposed to be.

My can was still in the big pockets of my new sweater. I took it out and used my dagger to open it and cursed when the blade briefly scraped my skin open. A droplet of pure dark red blood dripped from the shallow cut on my finger into the water. I held my hand in the water and looked at how the blood on my hand dissolved until the wound was clean. The cut was small, and stopped bleeding almost immediately.

I tried once more, carefully this time, and managed to open the can.

I took a juicy peach out, closed my eyes, and put the overly sweet piece of fruit in my mouth. I wasn't used to something as sweet as this. Sure, I'd eaten a lot of berries, but they'd been more sour than sweet.

When I was younger, I only ate sweet things. I wouldn't want anything else. My mother would then tell me about the children in poor countries having no food, and how I had to be more grateful. I never really understood that, but now that I knew what it felt like to be hungry, so hungry you were desperate to eat anything edible, I felt bad for them.

How were the other countries surviving the apocalypse, had the plague only spread here, was it really possible somewhere in this world, people still lived the way they did before the apocalypse? So many questions, but we would probably never get an answer to any of them.

Pretty much a week after the outbreak, all contact with other countries had been lost. The idea of people, living life the way they were used to at this moment got me more jealous than I'd been of the bird. That wouldn't be fair. It wouldn't be fair they got to eat till they were full while we, survivors, had to scrimp on food every time we found some because we had no idea when we got to eat again. Every meal could be my last.

I stopped eating as I realized these children from the poor countries my mother always talked about, must have thought the same thing at the time…

I got up and wanted to make my way back to Nick since I didn't want him to get worried. The can was now empty, and I walked towards it to pick it up and get rid of it somehow, but accidentally kicked it away.

I didn't really think about it when I walked after it to pick it up again. The can lay in the mud. I bended over to pick it up, but then I realized on what I stood.

I slowly raised my foot as I examined the strange patterns in the moist muddy ground. They were undoubtedly car tracks.

I shifted my gaze over to the distance, and even though it was hard to say because of the thick fog layer hovering above the ground, the tracks seemed to be going on for a long while. Car tracks… they couldn't be anything else, and they weren't old. It had rained not too long ago, so they had to be fresh.

That meant there was a car close by…!

I didn't have time to think about whether that was a good or a bad thing as I rushed along the path back to Nick.

When I got there, my reared behavior alarmed him, and he stood up. 'Cammie, what took you so long?' he asked, as he got closer. 'Did you come across someone?' he asked without waiting for an answer for his first question, '…or something…?' he added.

For a second I just stood there to catch my breath.

'C'mon.' I said as I grabbed his sleeve and dragged him with me towards the car tracks. 'You gotta see this!'

He didn't struggle, as I took him to where I'd seen the tracks.

When he saw them, his jaw dropped.

'Should we be relieved or worried about this?' I asked because I wasn't sure myself.

'I…I don't know…' he mumbled as he walked along the tracks. 'It's been so long since I've come across a working car… Well, actually the last time was…' suddenly his eyes widened in a moment of realization.

'So what now?' I whispered, almost afraid a car was going to come out of nowhere.

'Well let's follow them.' He said as he turned around to face me.

'I can't see which way they go.' I said as I turned around to face the other side of the path. 'Can you?'

'That way.' Nick said pointing south. 'You can see from the way these are different from-' he started explaining as he pointed at the other side of the road,

'I seriously can't see any differences.' I interrupted his explanation.

'I think,' he said as he got closer to me, 'I know to who this car belongs, and if I'm right, this person will have no reason of moving north, he'll be goin' back south.'

'Whose do you think it is then?' I asked, but I had a bad feeling I knew who it was.

'Carver has a van.' He said with a hardened face. 'He is the only one in this area I know who has a runnin' vehicle. If it's his, there may be a chance I can find my friends.' He said.

We started walking along the muddy tracks. We didn't talk, and the silence started getting awkward. Not that I cared, I didn't really mind silence. In a way silence meant safety.

Nick started walking slower. He walked behind, instead of next to me, but then I realized he wasn't walking slower, I just walked faster, creating distance…

'Cammie…' his voice echoed through the woods.

Suddenly I could feel how the entire forest got quiet, even quieter than just now. There was only he and I.

His body was just a few inches away from mine, I stepped back, but he wouldn't let me escape that easily as he grabbed both my wrists.

'Why are you so afraid of me?' he whispered, so soft I wouldn't have heard him if he hadn't been so close.

My breath got stuck in my throat as he slightly bent over to bring his mouth closer to mine. I wanted to find a reason to back away from him, no matter how much I needed him, I still didn't want to fall in love with him, although I got the feeling it might be too late for that. I had to create some distance that would help getting a clear head so that I could tell him I couldn't be with him, not that way.

He kept getting closer, his lips almost touched mine and I could feel his breath stroke my cheeks.

My self-control only went this far, and I couldn't help but long for another kiss like that first one.

I gave up and closed my eyes as I accepted, and embraced my weakness.

Just before his mouth closed the gap in between us, I heard a rustling noise in the bushes, and I tilted my head to face the direction where the sound had come from.

Nick had been so caught up in the moment he hadn't even heard it. He sighed, let go of my wrists and looked down with a beaten expression on his face. 'I'm sorry…' he mumbled, 'I just thought-'

'Ssst!' I interrupted him as I took my dagger out of its hilt and carefully approached the bushes.

The bewildered gaze of a somehow familiar face startled me, but he wasn't looking at me. I jumped aside when an orange smudge dashed out of the bushes and hugged Nick tight.

In the heat of the moment I could only think one thing, _oh crap…_

* * *

**_Hey guys,_**

**_I updated a lot for my doing this week, because I won't be able to post any new chapters for 3 to 4 weeks. Sorry! I'll leave you with this lame open end for now, so you'll have quite some time to think of who the orange smudge will be... ;)_**

**_Thank you so much for all the kind reviews, they make me really happy!_**

**_~See you guys in a month ~_**


	15. High Road, Low Road

**High Road, Low Road **

All I could hear was my own uneven breathing. A cold breeze played with my hair, as I stood there, paralyzed.

I recognized him, that curly brown hair, his machete; he was undoubtedly Nick's friend.

When Luke finally let go of Nick, the two didn't pay any attention to me, but started firing questions at each other.

'You're alive?' Luke asked as he ran a hand through his hair as if he had a hard time comprehending what just happened. 'Clem told me what happened at the stream, and honestly, I didn't think you'd make it!'

'Where is everyone, where's Pete?' Nick asked as he looked around as if he expected his friends to jump form behind the trees and shout "surprise".

Luke's face darkened as he looked at the ground and scratched the back of his head.

I knew that gesture too well. The gesture people make when bad news is often to follow.

'Carver…' he started, 'we were hiding at a lodge, but Carver found us, I managed to hide, but he took the rest…'

I had the feeling he was leaving something out on purpose, something important.

'Fuck…fuck…' Nick mumbled as he held his face in his hands.

I hated seeing Nick like this, so I stepped toward him. I hesitated, but put my hand on his back in a desperate attempt to comfort him. It seemed to work, but I immediately realized I shouldn't have, because the two men turned around.

'Oh right.' Nick said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, a gesture that almost seemed possessive, 'This is Cammie, without her there is no way I woulda have made it this far.'

Luke smiled at me, but the smile slowly melted from his face, and I saw recognition in his eyes.

_Oh fuck…_

'Wait…' he said as he eyed me with suspicion, 'But- It's you?!' his eyes widened.

'You guys know each other?' Nick asked as he shifted his gaze from me to Luke and back. I could feel him flinch and he dropped his arm.

I couldn't take it anymore. 'I-I'm so sorry Nick,' I began as I felt the tears stinging behind my eyes, 'I was-I was going to tell you, I swear.'

Luke interrupted me, 'Had you seen Nick, did you know where he was when I asked you that night?'

He got closer and the suspicious look had now changed to hatred.

Nick suddenly awoke from his trance and looked at me as he stepped back to stand next to Luke, an action meaning he was on his side.

'You met Luke, he asked you about me, and you didn't tell me?!'

'I-I' I wanted to say something, explain, make them at least a little bit less angry. But an explanation ceased to from. Of course it did. I didn't have one. All I did was stand there stumbling over my own words.

'I trusted you…' he said as he looked straight at me. I couldn't bare that pained look in his eyes. 'I thought I could trust you, I thought you helped me look for my friends, but all you did was lead me away from them?' he asked.

'No, its not like that I swear!' my voice cracked.

'All that bullshit about moving south, you were just trying to create distance between them and me! Was that your plan all along?'

I could see him link everything in his head. I could see him drawing wrong conclusions.

'NO!' I cried out, 'that's never been what I planned!'

'Well then what were you plannin' exactly?' Luke asked.

I already hated this guy, I knew I had no reason to, because I was the bad guy in this situation, but I already had enough trouble trying to explain my reasons to Nick without him joining the argument.

'Let me… let me make up for it!' I shouted desperately.

The two raised one eyebrow at the same time.

'I-I'll help you free your friends from that Carvy- Carver.' I corrected myself just in time, this was no time for joking about Carver's name. They had to take me seriously.

Nick's eyes widened, and for one brief second, I thought he was going to forgive me, but when he looked at me again, his eyes were so cold it frightened me.

'Please…' I said as I looked up at him.

'No!' he snapped. 'You've already done more than enough for me!'

I gasped for air and ignored the impulse to protect my face with my arms when he stepped toward me angrily.

'Go away and leave me alone.' He said it awfully calm.

I made a pained sound, and even Luke dropped his angry mask and looked sideways at Nick in amazement.

'I said go, LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!'

I fell on my knees, in the squishy muddy car tracks and burrowed my face in my hands. I waited for the tears to come, but they wouldn't.

I knew what I'd done was wrong, I knew Nick had every right not to forgive me, but this wasn't the Nick I knew. How could he do this to me? I thought he had feelings for me, I'd been so sure. But this was all it took for him to leave me in the mud.

'C'mon.' his cold voice mumbled, but it wasn't meant for me, I knew that without having to look up.

Luke sounded as if he hesitated. 'But- but what about-?'

'I said c'mon!' Nick snapped in a raised voice, and I could hear he'd already started walking.

'Nick you can't- we can't just leave her here…'

I didn't want his pity, not after he'd ruined everything. I forced myself to get up.

I looked at Nick. His face was as cold as the wind that blew my hair in my face.

He wouldn't, he couldn't, it shouldn't have to end like this!

I looked at him with pleading eyes, silently begging for him to say he forgave me. I wanted him to wrap his arms around me so that I would be squeezed against his chest, so that I'd be where I belonged, in his arms.

I cried quietly but kept looking at him.

All he did was turn around and he walked until the fog hid him from my sight.

'Nick, wait!' Luke called out, 'Nick what the fuck, we can't just…' his voice trailed off as he ran after Nick and I was alone.

I knew I should never have let any emotion out, I knew I shouldn't have saved Nick in the shed that day. Love equals pain, I knew that, I'd known it all along, and yet I'd been so stupid as to open heart for him, even though I'd been right about boys all along. They were all like Fred.

Why would I even want to live, I had nothing left to fight for. I took my dagger from my hilt. It weighed heavy in my shaking hand.

It seemed my options were limited.

I could return to the lodge and die a slow painful death, the last thing I'd hear would be Fred's laughter, I could just live on my half life and one day end the way everyone would, as a rotting, walking corpse,

Or, I could just end it myself. I looked at my dagger's clean blade and laughed. The weapon that had saved my life all these times, all of the fighting to stay alive, it had all been useless. Everyone in the apocalypse was doomed. Wouldn't you get eaten alive you'd lose your mind.

I slowly brought my dagger to my wrist, but hesitated. I didn't want to become one of those monsters myself. One stab in my head had to be enough. I'd done it so many times I knew just where to place the blade and felt the sharp tip on my head.

When I was younger I'd never understood suicidal people. Why would you want to end life when you had no idea where you'd go afterwards?

I understood now. Anything was better than this.

The fog got thicker. I couldn't see anything but the silvery glow of the fog in the moonlight. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad way to die. I'd die alone and unloved, No one would cry for me, perhaps Fred, because he hadn't finished me of himself…

Maybe it was for the best.

I closed my eyes and raised my arm to thrust the blade into my own skull.

A cool wind dazed me. I heard a song from far away sang by a warm familiar voice…

…_Oh, ye'll tak' the high road, and I'll tak' the low road,_

_And I'll get to Scotland afore ye;_

_For me and my true love will never meet again_

_On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond…_

I opened my eyes. Right before me, a figure made her way toward me through the fog.

She wore a silver dress that glowed brightly in the light of the moon I could no longer see.

'Cammie…' her melodious echoing voice said as she got closer and pressed her cool hand against my forehead.

I looked up at her shining face. She frowned and briefly touched the tip of my nose, but I didn't feel it, as if she corrected a toddler that'd done something bad.

'This is no way to die.'

I wanted to talk to her, embrace her, ask her how it was up there, but my mother hovered above me, and it was as if I hadn't been taught how to speak.

'You have so much left to live for.' she said as a single golden tear fell from her face to the ground. 'Go help your friend, he needs you right now, more than you can imagine.'

I shook my head. I tried explaining to her he hated me, he didn't need me, he had Luke now, he was with his friends. But as I opened my mouth no sound came out.

'Go.' Her appearance started getting blurry and her voice got softer. She rose up in the air.

I wanted to scream, cry, and beg her to take me with her.

'You're may come up here Cammie,' I heard her say, 'but not too soon please.' And with that she left.

* * *

My eyes shot open and I lifted my head. Early daylight seeped through the tree's leaves. I'd slept? In the middle of the road?! I couldn't believe how lucky I was nothing had found me...

My mother… had she really appeared? I looked around, secretly hoping to see any sign she'd been real, but nothing in the green forest had changed.

I got up and looked at the road. Nick and Luke's footsteps were still clearly visible in the mud. Then I looked at my dagger, and thought of the decision I'd made earlier.

I could go south, and follow Nick even though he clearly didn't want me there, or I could go north to die.

A tough choice, but either was a way out.

I thought of that song my mother just sang to me, it had been one of my favorite childhood songs. Just like many other things, my naïve self hadn't understood any of it, it'd just sounded pretty. Deep down I knew which road to take. I walked as I quietly sang.

'_Oh, ye'll tak' the high road, and I'll tak' the low road,_

_And I'll get to Scotland afore ye;_

_For me and my true love will never meet again_

_On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond_.'

* * *

**Hey guys, **

**Thanks for the patience, I'm back, at long last another chapter! ;)**

**I was originally planning to end the story soon, since I've been working on another TWD story, but I want to finish this one first. But when I played Amid the ruins, I got many ideas to fit Cammie in so I wanted to ask you guys whether you think I should continue or not.**

**Please tell me what you think, your nice reviews make my day!**


	16. Be Strong

**Hey guys,**

**I felt kinda bad for splitting up Cammie and Nick... again...**

**So I decided to write this chapter from Nick's perspective. Please tell me if you like the concept, if so, I might do more in the future, if not I'll just switch back to Cammie **

**hope you'll enjoy :)**

* * *

**Be strong**

He would never forget the way she stood there before him. Those beautiful, but desperate brown eyes, looking for the slightest hint he hadn't meant what he said, that pained expression on her face, the tears sparkling in her eyes, the way her shoulders shook when they fell…

It hurt him more than he was willing to admit.

He'd turned around and walked away from her. It had been one of the most difficult things he ever had to do, aside from killing his own mother. Even now, a full day since he'd last seen her, she was all he could think of.

She probably hated him now. And who could blame her? But it was for the best. He kept telling himself. What did he have to offer her, safety? No way. Carver would shoot the hell out of her. It was for the best… and yet he wished he hadn't walked away.

Cammie would be better of somewhere far away from him and his trouble. He would never be able to forgive himself if something happened to her, and even though he knew right at that moment she had to be safer than she was with him, he wanted to hold her in his arms, where nothing could ever harm her.

Unlike most people, Carver never forgot a face. He had tried to kill Cammie, but he hadn't succeeded. He wanted revenge.

Carver was dangerous. Cammie thought light of him, but she had no idea what he was capable of. Fred had been sick in his head, sure, but all he'd wanted was her, and Nick understood why.

Carver wanted more than just revenge, what he wanted most of all was power. People and land to rule over. He wanted to show everyone how strong he was, and the fact Cammie had escaped him once meant she could be a possible threat in the future.

Nothing would harm her, not as long as he could prevent it.

Nick walked along the path with Luke next to him. The latter glanced sideways nervously and opened and closed his mouth, as if he wanted to say something but changed his mind because he was afraid of him or his reaction.

It reminded him an awful lot of Cammie's behavior the last few days. There she was again. He couldn't think of anything else, and it drove him crazy. His heart ached whenever her face appeared in his mind.

His face must've looked as pained as he felt inside, because Luke bent over slightly and finally spoke.

'You okay?' he asked as he slowed down his pace.

Nick wanted to respond in an angry way, because did he look okay? But when he took a good look at Luke's face he realized Luke looked tired. His face was pale, his expression beaten and he had purple bags underneath his eyes. 'Why wouldn't I be?' he answered in a slightly more aggressive tone than he'd meant.

'Don't ya think…' Luke began, but his voice trailed of.

'What?' Nick asked as he violently kicked a pebble away.

Luke sighed. 'Don't ya think you were a bit hard on that girl? I mean c'mon, she looked like she wouldn't be gettin' up anytime soon.'

'Yeah, well she did get up, so let's just forget about her and keep movin' already.'

Luke seemed to want to argue with him, but Nick wouldn't let him. Talking about Cammie hurt, and the last thing he wanted was for Luke to think he was weak.

He had to be strong.

'Nick, I gotta… I gotta tell you somethin'.' Luke's voice quietly said from behind him.

Nick turned around. He hadn't expected that tone, Luke sounded scared, almost as if he was afraid to break him.

'When,' he shook his head, 'no IF we get to Carver's I want you to know that not everyone… made it.' Luke finally said.

Nick lost his stomach, he was afraid of the unspoken words that hung in between them.

'Back at the lodge, Alvin was-'

'I know.' Nick interrupted him, but just as he wanted to explain Cammie and him had stayed at the lodge as well, Luke raised his hand to indicate he hadn't finished yet and Nick felt more anxious than ever.

'But even before that… God, Nick I-I don't know how to tell you this so I'm just gonna say it… Pete's dead.'

Inside of him, something just snapped. Nick could clearly hear Luke talking, but it was as if he'd been turned off. Nothing reached him, not even the cold wind blowing in his face. He didn't understand what else Luke was saying, all he wanted was for him to say he was joking, he wanted to hear Luke say Pete was with the others, under Carver's command, but safe.

But Luke wouldn't say that. Instead he stopped talking and looked at him.

Nick tried really hard to remember the last moment he and his uncle hadn't been fighting, but he couldn't remember. The last thing he'd said to his uncle had been something like "whatever" after another one of his life lessons. He hadn't even said sorry.

Nick felt the tears stinging behind his eyes. First his mother, then uncle, who'd be next? Luke, Cammie?

He felt his friend's arms around him. 'Nick he's gone, he- he's gone. I know how much it hurts, I know man I do, but we gotta keep movin' alright, I-'

Nick shook himself free from Luke's embrace. He felt empty inside, like nothing mattered.

They walked on for what seemed like forever, and Luke kept glancing sideways at Nick nervously as if he was afraid Nick would collapse in front of him to never get up again.

Nick however didn't realize this as he stumbled along the path like a lurker.

He felt like one, like life didn't matter. As childish as it sounded, he wanted to cry, he wanted his mother, he wanted uncle Pete, he wanted his life to be the way it was before the apocalypse.

He looked at his feet stumbling through the muddy tracks they'd been following for an eternity.

It was as if he lived in a nightmare, a terrible nightmare, but just a dream. It felt as if he should be able to just wake up, climb out of his messy bed, walk downstairs, get in his car, drive to the small coffee shop, and meet up with Luke there. Just like he always did. He was done with this life. He wanted to wake up.

What he wanted most of all was Cammie's presence. He wanted t hold her in his arms and hear her say everything would be alright. Thinking of her made him relive the brief time they'd spent together.

The evening when he first met her in the shed, (which was a bit vague thanks to the whiskey), when they said goodbye, when he met up with her again, he would never forget the joy he felt when he saw her after those few days.

She made him happier than any amount of whiskey ever could. But the memory he was fondest of, was when she looked up at him and smiled. That smile made him forget all the trouble in the world, made it seem as if there was nothing but her and him.

Nick couldn't care less when a lurker stumbled from behind a tree, saw him, and started limping toward him.

He had no weapon, he had no strength to do anything, but Luke appeared from behind him, took his machete and took care of the undead corpse in a similar way to how Cammie did with her dagger.

Nick had a strong feeling that if they'd met under different circumstances, Luke and Cammie could've been friends. Not only because they shared the same taste in weapons, but also because they were both strong in a similar way. In a way he could never be.

Dark red blood oozed out of the deep cut in the lurker's skull.

But as Luke pulled his knife out of the lifeless body, another lurker appeared from behind him and fell on top of him. Luke screamed and rolled through the mud trying to push the lurker of him. The dead corpse tried to bite in Luke's face and got dangerously close.

Nick wanted to help. He had to! But it was as if he hung above the scene doing nothing but watching. He couldn't move, couldn't think.

With a grunt, Luke managed to push the body of him and without thinking he stabbed the blade of his machete in its eye. The lurker's flailing arms fell on the ground to never move by themselves again.

Luke got up, turned around and glared angrily at Nick, who stood there ashamed of himself because of his lack of help.

'Nick, listen to me!' Luke shouted angrily. 'I know Pete was close to you, but you gotta snap out of it! Maybe I shouldn't have told you, maybe it would've been for the best, I felt like you had the right to know. But Nick please, I need your help!'

"_Nick please, I need your help, I can't do this alone!"_

Cammie's voice echoed through his head.

Cammie had said the exact same thing to wake him up, right before she'd kissed him.

He had to be strong, for Luke, for Cammie. He forced himself to forget about his uncle, all the time they'd spent together hunting, all of the things he'd taught him, the times he'd seen his old car drive up the road to take him to his uncle's house when his father had been in a bad mood, he forced himself to forget all of it. It was as if he put the fond memories in a box inside his head. It was a box he would open up when all of this was over. When he was ready to face the fact that his uncle, uncle Pete he had always regarded as undefeatable, had died. And that he wouldn't be coming back.

He looked up at Luke and nodded.

Luke seemed relieved and nodded back at him.

Nick looked around and saw nothing but trees, but he immediately noticed there was something wrong.

Around them it was quiet. Too quiet… the few birds had stopped singing, the wind had stopped howling and Luke and Nick met each other's gaze.

'Somethin' ain't right…' Luke whispered, and they found out what it was. It had been quiet for a second, but now they heard grunting and moaning around them, it came from the trees, from deeper in the forest, but it would be a matter of seconds before it reached the two of them. The nerve wrecking, sickening sounds surrounded them, they were in the middle of a herd, and it sounded like a big one.

'Run!' Luke said in a raised voice, Nick didn't have time to hesitate, so they did.

They ran along the path, and more and more lurkers began appearing from behind the trees. Nick dashed toward the left to avoid the flailing arms of a lurker crossing his path, but fell over another one leaning against a tree bark. He struggled to get up, but three other walking corpses were making their way toward him when the one he'd just stumbled over tried getting hold of his arm to bite him.

Nick panicked and desperately kicked and hit everything around him until finally he felt Luke pulling one Lurker he'd just killed of him. Nick got up and they ran, faster than he'd ever run before. The wind blew in his face, his muscles ached, but he couldn't stop, until he felt something grab him from behind. He could smell the stench of decay, he heard the strange noises they always made right next to his ear, and he knew, death was but an inch away.

With all his might, Nick pulled himself free, and his cap fell from his head. Nick didn't even have time to see it fall to the ground as he kept running after Luke.


	17. Breaking In

**Breaking in **

Luke bent over to catch his breath, and Nick leaned against a tree. He scratched is head and frowned. He wasn't used to not wearing his cap, it made him feel bald, even though his wild black hair hadn't been cut properly in a long time.

Luckily, the lurkers were slow, so after about fifteen minutes of running, they'd found themselves alone in the forest once again.

'Alright…' Luke mumbled. 'Lets move.'

Nick hesitated. 'Are you sure man, you look-'

'I'm fine.' Luke interrupted him. 'We gotta keep movin'.'

The Howe's Hardware complex appeared from behind the trees, and Nick saw countless amounts of lurkers roaming around the parking lot.

Luke snuck toward a container and signaled him that it was safe.

As quiet as he could Nick walked over to the blue container while bending over to keep himself low and out of the sight of the possible guards up the roof.

'I dunno where I'd rather be right now…' Luke whispered without lifting his eyes from the barricade Carver had forced his people to make. 'out here or in there… how do we get in though…?'

Through a small hole in the barricade Nick saw someone in a very light blue jacket walking by.

'Someone's coming!' he whispered while he pulled Luke's head behind the container.

Luke however, struggled. 'Wait wait, is that-? That's Clem! I didn't recognize her because of the jacket…'

Clem walked past the container, and glanced through another narrow crack in the barricade. She seemed to be judging how strong it was, which it really wasn't. She frowned and walked on.

Apparently Carver had set her to work immediately, because she carried a ton of something.

'Look up there.' Luke whispered as he pointed to a point somewhere up the building.

There he stood, Carver was talking to Troy up the roof, one of his favorite places, because he could look down on his people that way… Nick gulped.

When the wind stopped howling, they could just make out a small part of their conversation.

'Got it Bill.' Troy said as he avoided looking straight at carver. 'I'll just make 'em work faster.'

'Good.' Carver responded in his low terrifying raspy voice. 'I'm not sayin' that herd is gonna be a big problem, but I want this area done just in case.'

'Look at all the dust they're kickin' up though…' Troy said, and Nick got anxious when his gaze shifted over to the parking lot where he and Luke were hiding.

'It'll probably pass us.' Carver said as he looked at the rising sun.

'What happened up there with Reggie by the way, somethin' I should worry 'bout?' Troy asked carefully as he nodded towards the ground somewhere behind the containers he and Luke hid.

'That ain't your problem.' Carver answered. 'Just make sure they get this done in time and you ain't got nothin' to worry about.' The way he said it, he made it seem like a threat, and Nick could almost smell Troy's fear.

'Alright…' Troy answered, but Nick realized Troy couldn't help but give whatever lay on the ground they couldn't see from behind the container one last glance.

Luke nudged him to get his attention, and with some effort, Nick managed to look away. He didn't want to know what had happened to Reggie, he didn't want to hear another one of his friends had died.

'I gotta go talk to Clem, okay? She's our only hope right now.' Luke whispered. 'If she can get me one of those radios we'll have a bigger chance of gettin' everyone outta there. Well, we'll at least be able to communicate with the rest, and that's already a lot more than we got now.'

'How is that little girl gonna do anything?' he asked. He didn't feel like putting all of their faith in a kid.

'I spent quite some time with her, trust me, she's a lot stronger than she looks.'

'She's just a little girl!' he interrupted him.

She's a _valuable_ little girl. We shouldn't underestimate her.'

Nick sighed and looked at Luke's face. He realized again, how tired Luke looked, as if he could fall asleep on the spot. 'How do you want to get her attention with Troy standing watch?' he asked nervously while ignoring the urge to slap Luke across the face when his eyelids almost shut.

He opened them at the sound of Nick's voice, and had to think about his question for a second, until he looked at something behind him, and his eyes widened. 'Ya see that point in the barricade over there?'

He turned around and saw that at one point, the wooden walls stopped, and became a building. After a row of windows, the barricade continued. They obviously hadn't finished that part of the wall yet.

'I know it sounds crazy,' Luke said, 'but if you could break the glass to get Troy's attention, and then hide, I'd be able to climb over the fence, and run over to that store over there.'

'I dunno man…' Nick mumbled. 'It's pretty damn risky…'

'I know…' he answered, 'but it's all we got.'

'Maybe we should wait and come up with a more careful plan…' Nick mumbled as he raised himself a bit to look at Carver again. Up on the roof Carver turned his head, and Nick dropped himself behind the container just before their eyes met.

Luke sighed. 'You get why I wanna do it now?' Clem is right there, we might not get a chance like this again any time soon.'

Nick hesitated as he chewed on his fingernail, an annoying habit from before the apocalypse.

'Listen, I know it's risky, but I got nothin' else…'

'Alright then.' Nick said as he turned to look at the row of windows. 'So what do I do when you're in?' he asked.

'Just make sure nobody sees you, and I'll…' Luke's eyelids almost shut again and just before Nick wanted to snap his fingers to wake him up, he shook his head and looked at him. He didn't look good. 'I'll flag you down from there when no one watches and you'll join me, okay?'

Nick nodded and sighed once more. 'Fuck 'em.' He mumbled as he tried to forget how afraid he was. He quietly crept toward the window.

He knew this was a stupid and reckless plan, but just like Luke said, it was all they had. He flinched and ducked besides the window when he heard angry voices from inside the building.

The window had been partially barricaded with a wooden board, so Nick couldn't see, but only hear what was going on inside.

'I ain't nobody's laborer. Fuck that! Let 'em do this shit themselves if it's so goddamn important!' a loud voice said angrily.

'Get your fucking hands off me man!' a lower voice responded.

'You ain't gonna force me to do this bullshit!'

'I said get your hands off me!'

'Or what? You gonna go tell on me?' the angry man responded sarcastically.

'I'm trying to help you asshole!'

'Yeah, this is a real help! Why don't you just worry about yourself.'

'Stop fighting!' a high-pitched voice suddenly joined the fight. Nick's eyes widened, it was a high-pitched voice he recognized as Clementine's.

'I want to Clem, but this son of a bitch keeps testin' me!'

Nick stood as low as he could while trying to blend in with the environment, as he watched the lurkers limping toward the glass drawn by the loud man's voice. About four of them started pounding at the old glass with their rotten blood red hands. It didn't take much force for the glass to break, and the tiny fragments scattered all over the asphalt with familiar unmistakable jingling sounds. They sparkled in the morning sunlight. All of the lurkers stumbled through the hole, pushing each other aside in the progress like hungry wolves, but ignoring each other completely as soon as they'd each picked a prey. The sound had drawn several others, but they were too far away to be a danger to him.

The last thing Nick heard one of the people inside say was, 'Shit, fuck grab something!'

Even though he hadn't done it, he fled toward the woods to hide behind the trees, and saw to his relief, that Carver had left before the window had broken, and Troy had heard the chaos, and ran towards the ladder to get down and see what was happening. On the other side of the blue containers Nick saw Luke, pushing his tired body to its limits as he climbed over the improvised wall.

So far, everything went according to plan, unless Clementine would get eaten, but that wasn't his biggest concern right that moment.

He leaned against the bark of a tree, and made sure he was well out of sight before he dropped to the ground. He burrowed his face in his cold hands.

He was tired. He hadn't slept at all last night, and if he was to believe Luke, he hadn't had much more sleep than him. A lot less actually.

_Maybe I should've climbed over that wall… _he thought as he picked up a stone and threw it into the air to catch it again.

Strangely he wasn't concerned about himself at all, nor was he about the fact he was about to face Carver again, or the herd making its way toward the hardware store.

All he was concerned about was Cammie. He wished he knew how she was doing. Would he ever see her again?

At least she was somewhere a lot safer than where he was.

'Cammie,' he mumbled quietly while looking up at the cloudy sky, 'I really hope you listened to me…'


	18. Herdwalking

**Herdwalking**

My world stopped spinning when I saw the hat lying in the mud. I immediately recognized it as if it was my own.

Two lurkers roamed around where the cap was lying, as if they were guarding an ancient treasure. As soon as they saw me they both stumbled towards me reaching out with their hands.

In one swift move I took my dagger and stabbed the closest one in its knee. As it fell over I dodged the other one that made, what seemed like a run to get to me. Before the first one could get up I stabbed it in its head.

Just as I wanted to pat myself on the shoulder and point out how good I'd gotten at this, the second lurker grabbed me from behind and we both fell over. I gasped for air and pushed against the rotting torso.

The lurker wasn't heavy. She'd been a lightweight before she died, so pushing her of wasn't too difficult. Her rotting body landed in the mud inches away from me. I picked up the dagger I'd dropped on the ground out of surprise earlier, and kept it ready for when the lurker would go for a second try. With loud gargling that could undoubtedly be heard throughout the entire forest she threw her rotting self at me again. This time I was ready though, so before she could land on me, her head was split open like a watermelon. Sometimes you just have to throw a stupid comparison in to keep the killing light.

I really didn't want to, but couldn't help seeing her skull open like that. That brain had contained memories and experiences. It had been her. And now it was just another rotting body part. Who had this woman been? In the apocalypse you quickly stopped asking yourself questions like that. You would never get an answer anyway and they only made you feel depressed.

I walked over to the hat. It was cold. Tears welled up in my eyes. 'No… no…' I whispered. 'What the fuck did you do?' I shouted at the dead lurker lying in the mud. The mud had made it a little dirty, but I knew it was Nick's hat. He had definitely been here.

When I examined the mud tracks, I saw that there had been quite a struggle where I'd found the cap. I'd seen Luke and Nick had had some encounters already, with several messy pairs of footprints joining and leaving theirs frequently, but as I gazed over to the distance there were two pairs of footsteps continuing down the road.

Just two, and they were human.

I sighed in relief. It frightened me how scared I'd been just a second ago. Since when was Nick my everything?

I picked up his hat and put it on my head. It felt so familiar, as if I'd found an old friend back. Nick felt almost as close to me as he was when I'd kissed him.

I chewed on my lip as I walked on. The footsteps continued for as far as I could see, but what if they'd reached the road? I had no idea where "we" were going. "We" in quotation marks because I wasn't actually part of the group anymore. Nick didn't want me near him anymore. Would he be angry when he saw me again? If he saw me again?

I started doubting my plan. 'Just don't think about it…' I whispered to myself.

As stupid as it sounded, the hat made me feel stronger. I had a goal again; I'd get this hat to Nick.

Luckily I was hydrated and I'd eaten not too long ago, but I had no idea how long I'd still be walking. My stomach was already complaining. I shook my head and ignored it. Getting to Nick was my top priority right that moment. I could think about food later. Somehow I felt worse than I'd felt the last time we'd been separated.

I stopped in my tracks when I saw what lay ahead of me. Many, many lurkers were stumbling over where Luke and Nick's footsteps had once been.

I gulped. I knew people who had walked through herds before, but I knew even more who had _tried_, but failed to succeed.

How was I going to survive this one? I sighed.

My eyes fell on a dead lurker a meter from my feet. There'd been several along the path, probably Nick and Luke's work.

I knew the number one rule for herd walking, rub yourself in their blood. The worst smell in the world.

A while back, a _long_ while when I'd still been with my old group, several guys with a huge ego had joined our group. We'd been with so many back then, so I never really talked to them, they frightened me, and their smell was so terrible no one could stand being around them for too long. They were proud of that though, it had been what kept them alive. When did the world become a place where people were proud of the fact they smelled like rotting guts…

I'd heard them calling themselves "Herdwalkers". They joined us, because we'd been moving north, looking for some sort of Wonderland called Wellington. They looked for herds to join because they made quite some distance that way. One of them got shot because people mistook him for a lurker, another fell and broke his leg, we left him behind, one was lost in a building we'd tried to loot that turned out to be full of the dead, one left us when a herd came by, and the last one decided to give up on the whole herdwalking thing, because he finally realized how stupid and reckless it was. I had no idea what became of him.

The history of the Herdwalkers in a nutshell.

At least they'd survived walking through herds, meaning it was possible. Back then it had sounded really scary to me. I'd figured the herd had to be really big for them to mistake you for one of them.

The herd in front of me was rather big for as far as I could see. At least it seemed to continue for a long while.

I looked up at the trees. I'd much rather climb my way from tree to tree like a monkey… I really didn't want to be so close to them, killing them to live was one thing, but being around them like that… the idea terrified me.

I had to act quickly if I was planning to walk through the herd, because some lurkers had turned around and came my direction.

I kneeled beside the dead lurker and ripped her open with my dagger. I felt like a psychopathic serial killer…

I screamed when cold dead fingers suddenly grabbed my wrist and fell on my back when the lurker got up and got close to my face.

_Of course, check if they're dead first._

That's what the Herdwalkers had told everyone who was interested enough to listen to their heroic stories for long enough. Herdwalking rule number two…

Some of the other lurkers had heard me scream.

_Fuck…_

So far the herdwalking idea.

I panicked and squirmed my way from underneath the lurker.

Trees. The best backup plan I had. What would I do without nature?

Ignoring the several arms trying to get hold of me I ran towards the first climbable tree I saw. I hadn't climbed in a long while. There was no need to when I'd been with Nick. Was it possible to forget such a skill?

I jumped up, got hold of a sturdy branch and pulled myself up with some difficulty. My arm started stinging because of what I made it go through. 'C'mon…' I groaned, 'Just a little more!' finally I managed to shift my weight over the branch.

I looked down at several desperate lurkers flailing their rotting arms.

'Haha!' I sarcastically said as I stuck out my tongue. 'The human 1, Lurkers 0!' I laughed because of my own stupidity. 'Woah!' I quickly got hold of the branch again when I almost lost my balance. 'Alright…' I whispered, 'I kinda deserved that one…'

I shifted my gaze over to the forest. Far away I saw a building. Even if that wasn't my end destination, it would be a nice stop on the way. There were no trees I could climb over to close by, so I'd have to wait till these corpses forgot about me.

_Great…_

I climbed a bit higher up and tried to get comfortable. Judging by all the lurkers making their way towards my tree, I'd be stuck here for a while.

I sighed and wondered for the millionth time that day how Nick was doing. Better than me, at least I really hoped he was.

* * *

**Heya,**

**Just a quick question,**

**I have an idea for both, so ****I can write the next chapter from either Cammie's or Nick's perspective.**

**Tell me which you want to read for the next chapter, cause I can't decide... ;)**

**Thank you so much for your support and the kind reviews, they make me really happy. **

**Love you guys!**


	19. Chased

**Chased **

A lurker head turned, when a stomach growled loudly from behind a tree. The person to who the stomach belonged cursed before dashing deeper into the woods.

Nick sighed heavily. He was hungry. He had spoken to Luke briefly, who'd told him he was waiting for Clem to bring him a radio.

So she hadn't been eaten… maybe that little girl was tougher than she seemed.

They had decided Nick would stay close to the fence, and Luke would try be there if he could, possibly with something to eat.

There hadn't been any chance for Nick to jump over the fence, because Carver had placed more guards around the area where the glass was broken. A smart move. They had no idea whether it was safe for them to try somewhere else, and Luke had decided they shouldn't take too many risks.

Luke had looked terrible the last time Nick had seen him. He barely managed to keep his eyes open. Nick was worried about him.

Nick had been waiting for Luke all evening, but his friend still hadn't shown himself. Even though it had only been yesterday since he'd last seen him, it felt like years.

Perhaps it was too dangerous for him to come out, or maybe he was busy communicating with the rest, figuring out a plan…

Nick stopped walking when he felt like he put enough distance between him and the several lurkers roaming around the parking lot.

He felt like he was wasting his time here in the middle of the woods. Luke could have shown up near the fence by now, and Nick wouldn't be there.

He placed his hands on top of his hatless head and paced in circles. He hadn't slept at all last night. Maybe an hour before he awoke again, drenched in sweat because of nightmares. It surprised him how many nightmares he could have in just an hour of shallow sleep.

Sometimes they were about his uncle, or about how he was realistically bitten while he was sleeping, about Luke telling him he'd decided to join Carver after all, but most of his dreams had been about Cammie. They had almost all been terrible nightmares. Cammie dying in front of him, Cammie dying _because_ of him, Cammie kissing someone else not because they made her, but because she wanted to…

But whenever he felt the nightmares take control of him, he thought of that one dream, the dream in which he relived the moment she'd kissed him. Only she hadn't been drenched in blood, dead bodies hadn't surrounded them and they weren't in a creepy abandoned lodge, but in a meadow. There was only sunshine, flowers, she and him…

He shook his head._ When did I start dreaming like a fucking 6-year-old girl, sunshine and flowers…?! What the fuck is wrong with me?_

Cammie had told him how she'd slept in the open by climbing trees. He knew that if he'd try he'd fall out, so he hadn't tried, but instead watched through the rest of the night until sunrise.

Because he was tired, he was incredibly on edge. Even though he was always careful, he was extra careful that moment. Every shadow reeked of danger. Every sound sounded like death, and every movement felt like a threat.

He jumped up at the sound of a raven flying away from behind a bush.

He softly hit himself three times. 'You're being too paranoid…' he whispered.

He started making his way back to the fence, but flinched when he heard something behind him.

When he turned around, nothing was there. The evening light seeping through the thick leaves, and illuminated one small spot in the middle of the clearing.

Had he imagined it?

When he started walking again, he was certain he heard another rustling noise. He turned around once more and noticed his shallow breathing was very loud.

He held in his breath and scanned the trees, ready to jump up at any sight of movement, but there was none. Yet he had the strong feeling he was being watched.

It started getting dark. He had no light, and soon he wouldn't be able to find his way back to Howe's.

He rubbed in his tired eyes. He was just imagining things. If he wouldn't move soon he'd be in trouble.

When he started walking though, he heard the sound of a snapping branch close to him. He kept walking. The sounds of the rustling leaves got closer and closer to him. He began walking faster as the sounds grew near, but he couldn't seem to get rid of them.

Where was Howe's? He should have been there already…

He panicked, was he walking in circles? Hadn't he seen this tree before?

Where was he?

The sounds drew near. Did he hear someone breathing close to his ear or was it the wind?

He kept running. _Where the fuck is Howe's?_

It got darker as the forest got thicker. _Where the hell am I?_

Nick tripped over a root and landed on his chest. His ankle hurt! He'd heard a crack, but he didn't want to consider the possibility it was broken. _I just sprained it, I just sprained it, I gotta keep moving. _ He kept repeating it determined in his head, hoping his ankle would accept it as the truth. The eerie sound got caught up with him.

Pushing his already tired body to its limits he pushed himself up and ran even faster than before, trying to get rid of whatever followed him. He didn't dare look back.

Trees rushed by as he ran, every tree looked like a lurker.

He was hungry, he was tired, he was scared.

Finally he saw a light in the distance. A small glimpse of hope in the darkness. Without hesitation he dashed towards it. He couldn't run anymore. He needed sleep. The very last meters he stumbled towards the light.

Everything got vague because of his lack of air. His uneven breathing was loud compared to the quiet forest. He was still chased by the sounds that got louder and louder as he ran faster.

But suddenly when he pushed the bushes aside,

He stood at the edge of the parking lot.

He stopped running at once and bent over to catch his breath. Sweat dropped from his face to the ground. He wanted to straighten his hat with his hand, but touched the air.

_Right… no hat anymore. _He still had to get used to it.

Still panting he turned around to face what had chased him down, but there was noting. Nothing but the dark forest behind him.

He squeezed his eyes when he thought he saw a figure lurking from behind a tree.

His curiosity won from common sense, and he carefully approached the tree.

He couldn't resist the urge. 'Cammie?' he asked hopefully, but the only answer came from the cold breeze that chilled him to the bone. Apart from that the forest was as quiet as it always was, as it should be. Where he thought he'd seen a person was nothing.

When he looked up at Howe's, his eyes met those of a person up the roof. His thoughts were numb, and he recognized the eyes too late.

As soon as his tired body could react he threw himself behind a wall.

His heartbeat so loud he was afraid she could hear him from up the roof.

_Bonnie has seen me. She looked straight at me._

He pressed a cold hand against his warm face and sighed desperately.

_I'm fucked._


	20. Reading Comic Books

**Hi guys,**

**I'm sorry it took me so long to update, the past few weeks have been quite hectic for me...**

**I was originally planning to have the first half of this chapter from Nick's, and the second half from Cammie's perspective, but it got a bit too long so I've decided not to do that, perhaps some other time... ;)**

**hope you'll enjoy, leave a review to tell me what I can improve!**

* * *

**Reading Comic Books**

_Has she really seen me?_

It was the question Nick had asked himself about a million times that afternoon. After he had seen Bonnie, he hadn't run back into the woods. With whatever he'd encountered in there earlier he felt a lot safer at Howe's parking lot, even though he wasn't even sure if something had really been there or not. He was so tired and hungry he might as well have imagined it.

Nick paced around in circles, as he always did when he was thinking. It definitely didn't look good for him, and if he was found, would they assume Luke was somewhere too?

He had been seen. He didn't want to accept the terrible truth, but he had no choice. He was ready to give up, but no one had come for him yet. Bonnie had seen him. He was sure of it. He had looked her straight in the eyes and he had seen her surprised expression. She had always been so loyal to Carver, had even refused to come with them when they escaped. Why wouldn't she betray him? It wasn't as if they'd had an amazing friendship or anything…

He stopped pacing around and looked at the building hopefully, as if expecting to see an orange vest appearing somewhere.

Where was Luke? Why hadn't he flagged him down like he was supposed to?

Nick anxiously sat down against a wall, chewing his nails while asking himself these same questions over and over again.

He had to do something. He felt so worthless. He couldn't just sit there, but he was scared. Scared of Carver, scared of what he might have done to Luke.

Nick shook his head and pushed himself up.

He suppressed a groan when accidentally putting too much weight on his ankle. It had been about and hour, maybe two since he'd injured it and it had swollen quite since.

He gasped for air and pressed his back against the wall when he heard voices from behind the wooden barricade.

He closed his eyes shut. He felt like a toddler playing hide and seek. But even if you close your eyes, it doesn't mean they can't see you…

A door slammed shut and Nick could clearly hear their conversation.

'I heard they found her sneaking around the building.'

'Who, the brown haired girl?'

'Yeah.'

'What did she have with her?'

'Not much, only a knife I think.'

A terrible idea formed itself in Nick's head.

_Cammie_

A memory popped up in his head, the first time he'd heard her speak. She'd corrected him when he thought her dagger was a knife.

His hart, that had been pounding wildly a second before, almost stopped beating when he realized the terrible, but certainly possible truth.

'More and more people to add to the community.' One voice said.

'More slaves you mean…' another voice mumbled in response.

'Don't let him hear you say that!' The first voice snapped.

'Hell, I talked about it with Tavia yesterday; she admitted it was hard not to call them prisoners. Carver _locks_ them _up_ in the yard!'

'All I know, is that we'll end up just like that if we say stuff like that out loud. So shut up about it when you're around me will ya?!'

The people walked past him, opened another door and the conversation silenced when it closed with a loud bang, leaving Nick outside with a mind full of fear.

It couldn't be her! she was somewhere safe up north. He knew she was. He had left her on the road, shouted at her, hurt her, he had seen the pain in her eyes. Why would she come after him?

He ran his hands through his messy hair. He was being stupid, he was jumping to the wrong conclusions, any girl with brown hair and a knife could sneak around a building. And yet before he knew it, he pushed the blue container towards the wooden walls.

_What if it was her?_

He climbed on top of the container, ignoring his throbbing ankle, and jumped over the barricade.

A small yelp of pain escaped his sealed jaws when he landed on his feet.

At once he was back at the place of his nightmares.

He looked around, and quickly made a run to what probably used to be a comic bookstore, judging by the big carton figurine in the window. It seemed like a safe enough place, no one had entered it the entire day for as far as he'd been able to tell while standing watch next to the wooden walls.

Once inside, he quietly shut the two glass doors behind him, and hid out of the sight of any passing by people. There was no going back now.

When he'd established he was well out of sight, he looked around at where he was. The comic bookstore looked as if lurkers had overrun it several times before.

It definitely wasn't a place he wanted to hide for a while. Old bloodstains marred the tiled floor, clusters big brown boxes were scattered around the room, making it seem as if the store had been moving right before the apocalypse, the windows were barred with wooden planks, leaving the entire place in a dark and creepy light and the little furniture or comic books the place had once had were long taken away. All that, left the place with a sad and deserted atmosphere.

Back when Nick had still been part of Carver's community this side of the complex had been lurker territory they would win later. The community had come quite a way since, leaving him with the great disadvantage of not knowing where he was, or how to get to the yard at all.

He frowned when he discovered some sort of improvised bed in the darkest corner of the back of the store.

Who would want to sleep in a place like this? Who _could_ sleep in a place like this? And why would they hide the bed in a dark corner like this one? All he knew, was that it had to be someone without Carver's permission who would, and he could only think of one person in the entire complex with the guts to go against Carver's will; _Luke_.

It made sense; this was where Luke had jumped over the barricade. But the fact he wasn't there got Nick anxious. Why wouldn't Luke stay where he was and try get some sleep when he could? What would he be doing outside of one of the safest places in the complex?

His own stomach gave him the answer to that last question when it growled loudly. His last meal had been a big can of beans with Cammie, almost two days ago.

He sighed. Almost two days already… Keeping track of time only made him feel hungrier, but Luke had to be worse. His last meal, according to him, had been a few days ago. He had to be incredibly hungry by now.

He realized he had been terribly wrong about no one entering the comic bookstore, when he heard the doors open. He hid in the shadow, held in his breath and prayed to God that he wouldn't be found.

The footsteps didn't sound heavy like Troy's, but instead soft, and quiet. Kind of like the way Cammie always walked.

'Luke...?' a tiny voice whispered. 'Luke, it's me Clementine, it's safe to come out.' Clementine whispered, a bit louder this time.

Nick's hart flowed over with relief.

'Luke! Where is he…?' Clementine mumbled in herself.

Nick moved from the shadows. 'Don't scream.' He quietly ordered.

Clementine gasped for air when she saw him, and Nick could see her eyes widen, even in the dim light.

'Nick!' she whispered in disbelieve. 'You- but how- we were… I thought you were dead!' she finally concluded.

He smiled faintly. 'Let's talk about that later. Listen, this is very important okay? You need to tell me where Luke is.'

Clem rolled her eyes at his condescending tone. 'I don't know where he is. I was supposed to give him this.' She got a walky-talky from the pockets of her bright blue jacket.

Nick jumped up when he heard the doors open, and Clementine quickly stuffed the device back into her pocket.

An angry Troy stood in the door's opening. 'I swear to Christ you're gonna regret this!' he screamed.

He walked towards her, and slapped Clementine across the face. The smack sounded loudly through the small store.

'You ain't supposed to be out here!' he made an attempt to grab Clem's the back of Clem's head, and violently drag her out of the store, but Nick lunged himself towards Troy.

The latter fell on the floor, obviously dazed by that amount of power out of nowhere, before reaching for the gun around his neck and pointing it at him. When his eyes met Nick's he was so surprised dropped his arm. For a moment he was speechless.

'What the fuck…' he mumbled. 'Nick?!' he got up and pointed his gun at Nick's back. He smiled an evil smile and pushed him towards the open doors. 'You're comin' with me.'

Nick sighed. It was over.

Just before they reached the doors, Troy seemed to remember Clem, who was still standing in the back of the store rubbing the cheek where he'd hit her, angrily.

'You're comin' to, and don't even think 'bout doin' something, cause I'll fuckin' blow your head off if I feel like I should!' he nodded towards his gun with his head.

Clementine squeezed her eyes and followed, not knowing whether or not Troy was crazy enough to actually do something like that, which Nick knew he was.

Troy seemed to be in a great mood because of what he was about to present to Carver. Nick almost expected him to hum a song.

Two people stood in the area barricaded by the wooden walls. A black guy around Nick's age, and an older man with a beard. Nick peeked through a crack in passing, and wished he was on the other side of those walls again.

'What happened?' the man with the beard asked.

Nick immediately recognized his voice as the one that had drawn the lurkers, and had caused the glass to break.

'MOVE!' Troy screamed angrily.

'Hey!' the loud man responded, but after giving the gun one look, he bowed his head, and silently walked after Nick, who was still pushed forward by the nose of Troy's weapon. Nick looked around when they entered the main building. Everything now looked much more secure, but he could see the food supplies were clearly less. Way more people than he could remember ever being in the community turned their heads and looked to look at the new prisoner.

'Hey dude.' A voice he recognized as Wyatt's said from behind him. Nick wanted to respond out of reflexes, but almost tripped over a cable, causing the group to stop walking.

'Just fuckin' walk,' Troy shouted in his ear agitated, 'how hard is it?!'

When they finally arrived at the yard, Nick saw a cluster of people in the middle of the room. 'Get over there.' Troy said, while pointing at the group.

Nick was pushed in.

Carver was pacing around, surrounded by a few anxious people Nick didn't know, and Carlos sat on the floor next to… Nick turned his head to see, next to Luke, who had blood and a beaten expression on his face.

Nick's heart dropped a few feet. He'd kind of expected it, but as long as he hadn't been sure, he didn't _want_ to consider the possibility Luke had been caught. Now here they were. Both caught. Now it really was over.

'…and how is it, that we're repaid for our trust? With treachery…? With deceit…? With theft!'

Carlos pressed a hand against Luke's chest. Luke looked terribly beaten up. Nick grimaced, but was afraid to make a sound. His nightmare was pacing around the room before him.

Carver held up the walky-talky and waved it around. 'Whatever you were planning is over… it's done.' He looked around the room until his eyes met Nick's. He didn't show any sign of surprise, but instead looked at Troy who's face lit up proudly.

_The smug…_

Carver didn't even have to ask before Troy started talking.

'Found the two of em'' he made a vague gesture towards him and Clementine, 'Hidin' in that old comic bookstore.'

Carver held up his hand and kept looking at Nick as he slowly walked towards him without letting go of his gaze. Troy shut his mouth immediately.

Nick gulped, and felt the fear throughout his entire body. He trembled, but didn't want to show any sign of being afraid, so he pushed his chest forward and squeezed his eyes when Carver got closer and closer.

'Nick…' he said in that frightening low voice. 'How nice of you to join us.'

Nick braced himself and closed his eyes when Carver lashed out with his fist.


	21. The Plan

**The Plan**

_The moment Carver's fist hit Nick's face, Cammie jumped out of her tree, a few miles away from the Howe's Hardware complex. Any normal girl her age would have been afraid, any person in their right mind would have been afraid. Afraid of the walking corpses, the crazy people out there… but she wasn't. _

* * *

When finally,_ finally_ the walking dead left me alone, I found myself at the base of the tree I'd spent several hours in, alone in the big green forest once again.

The herd was a few miles ahead of me now, but as long as I knew Nick had gone that very same way I couldn't feel relieved.

The tracks were gone. Not even the car tracks were visible anymore, trampled by the thousands of footsteps the dead had made in the mud.

Luckily the road continued down one straight line for as far as I could see, and I'd also seen a building in the distance, the one I'd marked as my next stop.

I looked at the sun disappearing behind the trees. I wouldn't have much more light. Maybe an hour, and then I'd have to stumble my way through the darkness. What a lovely prospect…

I stretched my arms above my head and sighed. Siting in the same quiet position for almost two full hours was unbearable. Throwing myself down to meet the hungry lurkers had almost sounded more pleasant than the torture of sitting in that cramped position.

I gave the corpse of a dead lurker next to my feet an uninterested look while determining whether or not I thought I would be making it to the large building. I decided I at least had to try before it got too dark. Maybe it would be a good place to spent the night…

But just as I started walking, I thought I heard something. A rustling noise, like a bird digging through the dead fall leaves looking for worms.

When I stood still, the noise silenced. Far away there was some moaning and gargling in the distance. My hand moved towards my dagger out of instinct. The frayed grip felt reassuring in my hand.

Just a wandering lurker lost from the herd… I told myself. No big deal, and too far away to be any concern of mine.

The fact it was so far away however, worried me. How could I hear something right behind me if the only lurker within the area sounded so far away?

I ran in a wide circle to scare away any birds hiding behind the bushes, but when I did, nothing flew up… instead, I heard more rustling behind the trees, or so it seemed.

But when I turned around there was nothing but forest.

I walked back a few steps to look at the mud and see if I was followed, but no other footprints had joined mine since I'd jumped out of the tree.

I shook my head and walked on. The forest got darker and darker as time passed, and I couldn't get rid of the feeling I was being watched. It felt eerie, walking in a forest when it was so dark. It felt like anything could be about to attack me.

My heart stopped beating for a second when I heard a creepy sound. Loud, rapid breathing from somewhere behind me.

My first reaction would be to run, or climb a tree, but I ignored the urge and stopped walking. This forest was creepy enough without some freak with asthma stalking me.

'Hello?' I asked. No answer. 'Who's there?' my voice sounded incredibly loud through the dark forest, but the only thing I heard was the vague moaning of the herd I almost caught up with somewhere along the path.

But then, I saw it.

Two big yellow eyes glared at me from the darkness.

* * *

All Nick could remember before losing consciousness was closing his eyes, hearing a sickening crack, and then drifting away.

The first thing he became aware of was a monster headache. It felt just like those mornings after an evening with Luke and some beer.

Slowly he regained the feeling in his stiff arms and legs. He realized he was lying on his back on the cold hard floor, but he didn't feel the strength to move. It was as if he was trapped in his own body.

His eyelids quivered. As soon as he managed to open his eyes, he was greeted by a strong pain in his nose and left eye.

Still lying on his back he carefully lifted his arm to touch his nose, but as soon as his fingers softly touched it, he groaned because of an immense pain pulling throughout his entire face. With a sigh he dropped his arm, and looked around where he was.

For as far as he could see from lying on his back, he was still in Howe's hardware complex.

Suddenly everything came back to him, and he sat bold upright.

It was dark around him, but the others had built a fire, so he forced himself up, and limped towards one of the gardening chairs. His ankle still hurt like hell. His head, his eye, his nose, his ankle the list kept getting longer.

He sat down and looked at Luke who hadn't even noticed him, or was too disappointed in him to look up. Nick felt like he didn't deserve self-pity, Luke looked much worse than he did. He sat bent over, his arm in front of his chest as if he had a stomachache, his face was pale, apart from a few red bruises that had started turning purple already.

Nick looked at the others sitting around the fireplace, they weren't really paying any attention to him. Close to him, there was a woman with a light green jacket crying her eyes out. Rebecca, always recognizably by her pregnant body, sat next to her while occasionally whispering comforting things.

Sarah stood close by the fire warming her hands. She had seen Nick get up, and had looked at him curiously, but as soon as he looked over at the shy teen she shifted her gaze away from him and stared at the fire. Her glasses mirrored the light, making it difficult for him to see her eyes.

Nick looked over to Luke once more, who apparently still hadn't noticed him. He couldn't take it anymore. 'Hey.' He mumbled to his friend. Luke's head turned his way, and to his relieve, the look on Luke's face wasn't angry. He just seemed tired, tired of all of it.

'Hey man…' he mumbled back. For a moment they were quiet, the only sound they heard was that of the woman sobbing, and Rebecca telling her it would be all right.

'Listen I'm-' he started, but Luke held up his hand and Nick stopped talking.

'It's my fault,' he mumbled with a sad expression on his tired face. 'I got reckless, I was so hungry I-' he sighed. 'I got caught tryin' to steal some food. If it weren't for me we coulda made it out… I'm such an idiot.'

'I shouldn't 'a gone lookin' for you…' Nick answered. He was glad his friend didn't blame him, even though Luke hadn't been the first reason he had jumped over the barricade.

He turned his head, and immediately found what he was looking for, but not _who _he was looking for. In the darkest corner, as far away from the fire as possible, stood a brown haired girl around Cammie's age. When she realized he was looking at her she glared at him, and he quickly turned this head. He didn't even have to ask her if she had a knife to know he had been wrong. Around her waist hung the hilt of some sort of knife. She wasn't Cammie. He'd been wrong. He felt glad and horrible at the same time. He didn't have to be caught, he could've given everyone a chance to make it out, but he wasted that chance in a rash action. Of course Cammie couldn't have been here.

But Cammie was still somewhere safe. That filled him with a warm feeling inside. She was somewhere safe up north. _Probably…_

'Who's she?' he asked Luke quietly.

'Who?' Luke asked, as if he hadn't seen her.

'That girl?'

'Oh that's Jane.' Luke answered as he gave her a sideways glance. 'I don't know what's the deal with her. Hasn't said a thing since I first saw her.'

Luke looked up when Clementine joined the circle around the fire. She had a scratch on her chin.

Clem looked at Nick's face and frowned as if she saw an overrun bird on the road.

'What?' he asked her. It occurred to him he still sounded a bit hostile towards the little girl, but he didn't change his grim facial expression, partially because he felt like crap after the whole being caught thing, and because it hurt to move his face.

She seemed to hesitate and squeezed her eyes. 'You're not wearing your hat anymore.' Se finally said when she sat down in one of the chairs. Nick scratched his head and shrugged. He knew it had been something else, something about his face. Maybe it looked as bad as it felt. He couldn't care less.

Luke got up and walked towards the door to join the black guy Nick had heard fighting with the man with the beard. The two of them were talking quietly to someone on the other side of the door. As soon as they walked back, Rebecca looked up from the crying woman.

'Mike, what'd she say?' she asked eagerly.

'She said she could get us out of the pen if we can get the PA system going. Second she hears it she'll run over and spring us.' Mike said as Luke sat down in the chair again.

'That's great!' Rebecca said.

'It's not great.' Luke said quietly without looking up.

'What are you talking about?' Rebecca asked him.

Nick also raised an eyebrow. He knew the plan in big lines, using the herd to get out. Getting away sounded like music to his ears. He'd been back at the community for a few hours, and he already felt like a bird in a cage.

'Why isn't it great?' Clem asked.

'Because it's risky like hell.' He answered, as he looked her straight in the eyes.

Nick looked sideways at him, maybe he was right, the two of them had seen the herd it was bigger than any herd he'd ever seen. 'It is pretty damn risky guys.' He said as he looked around the circle.

'Risky, did you see what that sonuvabitch just did? Look, the plan works. Nothing needs to change. It's all set up. This guy's fucking crazy, who knows what he'll do next.'

Nick had to agree with him on that, but he didn't know what sounded more appealing, throwing himself in a herd of flesh-eating monsters, or staying in this rundown hardware store ruled by a crazy dictator. Neither sounded too great.

'Yeah, but now we're dealing with a guy beat to shit, Sarita in no shape to do anything, I'm a goddamn mess, and… and Nick…' He made a vague gesture towards Nick, it annoyed him. Luke acted as if just him was enough reason to ruin the entire plan. It hurt him how little Luke seemed to trust him.

'Thanks a lot man.' He mumbled, as he surly looked the other way.

He could feel Luke's eyes burning on him. 'But it's true, he beat you up as well!' he said while he looked at Nick's face with a pained expression. He started sounding more desperate. 'C'mon man, Nick, you know what's out there, we've seen it! Look, we should rest up okay, we should bide our chances and wait for an opening.' His voice cracked a bit. Luke was right.

'Bonnie's agreed to help us tonight!' Mike said angrily.

'But that doesn't mean she can't do it some OTHER night.' Luke responded.

'I don't know, guys… Luke's makin' sense. Maybe we should wait.' Nick said. He started thinking about what would happen if all of them were to just charge straight at the herd, and he knew that no matter what they did, their great escape would most likely end the same way anyhow.

'We're NOT waiting.' Rebecca said, in a tone that dared anyone to argue with her. She placed a hand on her stomach. A gesture he'd seen her make so many times. She seemed more eager to leave than anyone, and Nick knew she had her reasons.

'I'm just saying we need to be more sensible about this.' Luke said while he made reassuring gestures with his arms.

'Where's Kenny?' Clem's tiny voice suddenly changed the subject.

Nick turned to look at her.

'Doc's over there workin' on him. It don't look good.' Luke responded as he looked down at the floor. Nick knew how much his friend hated being the barer of bad news.

Nick shifted his gaze over to the other end of the room. He hadn't even seen Carlos, but now he noticed their personal doctor was working on the man with the beard who lay unconscious on some sort of stretcher.

As they spoke Carlos turned his back to Kenny and walked towards them. Sarita looked up at him with the tears blinking in her eyes.

Nick had to try really hard to not think about Cammie's eyes when he'd last seen her, but he couldn't help seeing her in front of him like that. He would never be able to forget that.

'This is what I'm talking about.' Luke sighed.

'Can I see him?' Clem asked insecurely.

'I… don't think that's a good idea.' Carlos mumbled in response. 'His orbital is crushed… I don't think there's much hope for the eye…'

Nick kept looking at the guy on the other end of the room. Apparently Carver hadn't unleashed his full fury on Nick. He carefully touched his nose and thanked God he still had both his eyes. This proved even more he wasn't allowed to feel sorry for himself.

'I got him as stable as I could,' Carlos continued, 'cleaned it, got some of the swelling down, bandaged it the best I could… but until he wakes up… we won't know if there's any damage to the brain…'

Sarita broke into tears again.

'Fuck…' Luke whispered. 'Okay look, maybe I'm just playin' devil's advocate here, but if… dammit, if y'all are serious about goin' tonight then we're gonna have to start talkin' about maybe… leavin' some folks behind.'

'No!' Sarita said horrified as she lifted her face from her hands.

'There's no other way.'

'This is bullshit.' Rebecca mumbled.

The argument went on, but Nick stopped paying attention when Carlos tapped his shoulder. 'Nick, I haven't been able to look at it yet, but I can tell straight away that nose is broken.' He said quietly in his heavy Spanish accent.

Nick gulped. 'I'm fine…' he mumbled.

'No, you're not fine.' The stubborn doctor responded. 'I have to straighten it for you, otherwise it won't heal properly, but only hurt more.'

Nick sighed. For some reason this didn't sound appealing. 'Guess I don't really have a say in this?' he asked with a vague smile.

'Not if you want to keep it from getting infected.' Carlos answered without smiling back.

Nick nodded.

They walked away from the group, Sarah followed closely behind, her shoulders raised high, a sign she was not feeling comfortable. Nick felt sorry for her.

'D-dad?' Sarah asked as she tugged her dad's sleeve.

'Not now Sarah, I'm busy.' Carlos said.

'But… but… they're… fighting…' she mumbled as she pointed at the group. Luke 's voice coud be heard above the others. He really was a leader type. Nick envied him. He wished he was more like Luke, able to leave every painful experience behind to just… move on.

'Just close your eyes sweetie, it will all be over soon…' Carlos said. Nick almost thought he ws talking to him, so he turned his head, but saw Carlos bending over as he petted her air with a bandaged hand. Nick didn't even want to know what had happened to him and his hand.

'Just go talk to Clementine, I'll be done in a second.' Sarah nodded as she walked towards the girl her age. And yet, Clem seemed so much more grown up than Sarah.

Carlos looked at him, Nick sighed.

Just man up… he told himself. Carlos brought his good hand towards Nick's face.

'This might hurt a little.' He said, but before Nick could respond with a sarcastic '_I know_' he heard another sickening crack like a bone breaking, as Carlos pushed his nose back in place.

It hurt real badly, but Nick had to be strong. The others were in way worse condition right that moment, he couldn't be whining about something as silly as a broken nose when Kenny might have possible brain damage.

He immediately felt blood coming out of his nose. It dripped to the ground. Carlos grabbed his hand and showed him how to make the bleeding stop. He handed him a handkerchief, and Nick pushed against his nose.

'Alright, that should do it.' Carlos mumbled. 'As for that eye, it will hurt for a while, and it will eventually seem dramatic, but it will look worse than it is.'

Nick nodded. 'Thanks.' He mumbled as he went back to join the group. He'd had a black eye before, when he fought with some bullies in school, no big deal. What he was worried about was his ankle. He tried hard not to limp, because he didn't want Carlos to diagnose him with a broken foot. He was already a burden as it was, no need for the others to get even more worried. He clenched his jaws. His entire face felt as if it had been trampled by elephants…

He saw Carlos walking towards his daughter, and he put a reassuring arm around her. The rest of the group was still in a heated argument of whether or not to escape tonight.

'No, we're not leaving Kenny!' Clem shouted quietly.

'I don't like it either Clem, but it's where we're at. No one wants to leave Kenny behind.' Luke responded as he desperately looked at her, hoping to hear her say she understood.

'Good cause… you won't have to.' Nick turned around.

There he stood, the loud man with the beard. Only now, his face was full of scratches, and he was wearing an eye patch. Nick really respected that old man.

'Plan don't change.' Kenny said in that same decided tone as Rebecca. 'We leave tonight.'

* * *

**Hey guys,**

**Sorry if I'm sticking to much to the game's plot right now, that will probably change soon.**

**Hope you're enjoying it so far, leave a review if you did ;)**


	22. Music

**The Music**

'I'm gonna need a boost.' Clem said when all heads turned to look at her. Clem's eyes looked around the circle of people, but stopped when they met Nick's and rested there.

Nick quickly looked down at the foot he wasn't able to stand on, and then looked back at Clem. No one knew about that injury yet. Trying to boost Clem, but then fall to the ground would be the worst ay to keep it a secret, but the rest of the group turned to look at him. _Why does it fuckin' have to be me?_

'Well, what are you waitin' for?' Kenny asked as he violently pushed Nick towards Clem. He obviously hadn't meant it that way. Nick knew how little time they had. They were all stressed.

Nick staggered and had to use all of his willpower not to groan when his full weight landed on his injured ankle.

He shrugged and rubbed the shoulder Kenny had pushed as he looked at the man. 'Why can't you do it?' He asked him as he tried to stand straight despite only being able to lean on one foot.

Kenny pointed at the bandage around his eye. 'Gosh, I don't know, maybe 'cause I can't see fuckin' perspective?' he responded sarcastically, 'Now hurry the fuck up!'

'Guys c'mon…' Mike mumbled from behind him. 'I'll do it.'

Nick looked sideways at Luke, who frowned angrily and shook his head before walking towards Rebecca.

Nick brought his hand to his mouth and chewed on the nail of his thumb. Why couldn't he do anything right?

Mike heaved Clementine up until she got hold of the rope hanging from the ceiling, he took the other end and pulled it straight to keep her in the air.

'Be sure to remember to flip the switch for the outdoor speakers. Just the indoor speakers might not draw the herd. It's right on the microphone box.' Rebecca explained as she looked up at Clem.

'Right.' The little girl answered softly as she looked down at them.

'By default it's set to play music, so you should just have to turn it on, right? Then climb back up and drop into the stockroom, we'll meet you there.'

To Nick, that seemed like a lot to take in. he had lost the pregnant woman after flipping the switch for the outdoor speakers…

He stared at the ground as he heard Clem repeat it all. How was it this little girl was so much more brave than he could ever be?

He heard Mike pulling the rope until Clementine appeared out of sight.

'Be careful!' Sarita quietly whispered after her, but Nick doubted she had heard it.

He couldn't believe they had agreed to do this.

He looked over at all the adults who were ready to throw themselves into a herd of lurkers, and realized he was just as stupid as they were.

This was crazy.

* * *

The eyes looked straight at me. I screamed out of surprise and fright, stumbled backwards and fell over… something, resulting in me landing on my back in the mud.

Suddenly the … something grabbed my ankle.

A lurker without legs, I hadn't seen sitting next to the base of a tree had made me trip, and it now started crawling towards me. _Fuck Fuck Fuck! _It never ceased to amaze me with how little limbs they still managed to function.

Feverishly I began reaching for my dagger, but I was too late. The rotting upper body threw itself on top of me. Close to my head I heard loud rustling trailing of into the forest. Whoever, or whatever had followed me, the… _thing with the yellow eyes _it seemed to be too much of a coward to save me.

'Please help!' I screamed, but I couldn't hear whether they had heard me or not, because the lurker on top of me made too much suffocated noises as it violently brought its rotting face closer and closer to my neck. I used my one arm to try reach for my dagger, and the other pushed against the heavy legless lurker to keep it just far away enough.

The blood from where his legs had once been soaked my jeans… _great…_

Finally my right hand got hold of my dagger and I stabbed the lurker in its stomach from underneath.

If the thing had still been alive, it would have screamed, thrown itself of me, but it couldn't care less, and the dagger went right through it. I felt like I had to puke. My hands were inside it! Just in time I managed to roll to the left, and I pulled the dagger out.

Right before it could make another attempt I stabbed in its skull, ignoring the blood oozing out of the cut and dripping on my hand. I pushed the corpse of me and bent over to catch my breath.

When I rubbed my forehead with my hand, it left some lurker blood on my head. I made a disgusted face as I rubbed my hand clean against my sweater. It had been light pink a few days ago… not anymore.

My hart beat pounded in my ears. 'Fucking coward…' I whispered irritated. 'Stalks me all this way then runs when there's trouble…

Who could it have been? Or what…? I frowned as I tried to look between the trees. Everything beyond the bushes was dark. It was impossible to even make out the shapes of the trees. I gave up, cleaned the blade of my dagger by rubbing it against my jeans and put it back in its hilt.

Anything could jump on top of me, any moment. That really was a terrifying truth, but the truth nevertheless. I hadn't really felt this afraid of being alone… since before I met Nick…

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard music.

My eyes widened and I tilted my head to make sure my mind wasn't playing tricks on me. I was definitely hearing it!

Music, that couldn't be! Who still had the electricity to turn on music, and make it this loud? And what the hell were they thinking?

It sounded not too far away… it probably came from that building up ahead. It was so strange to hear music again, but as scared and sad as I'd felt a second ago, so great and exited I felt now. Music meant people, and people could mean Nick.

I looked over at the moon and nodded 'Alright…' I mumbled. 'No time to lose!'

And I ran. I ran as fast as my stiff limbs would allow me to, I ran as fast as my tired body could manage. I ran until the trees rushed by, and I could no longer separate them. The wind whistled in my ears.

I ran towards the herd,

The music,

_I ran towards Nick._

* * *

'You wanna disrespect me, fine. You wanna throw away the life… I'm tryin' to build for us all… then fuckin' fine! You wanna run of with this dogshit group of crippled fucks, then fine! Be my guest. But I will put a bullet in you and that baby before I let you leave again with my child!'

There they stood, they all had their arms in the air as they anxiously watched Carver pacing through the room with a rifle in his walked around, occaisionally pointing the nose of the gun dangerously close.

The happy music around them Clem had managed to turn on, seemed so out of place. No one dared to even twitch a finger. They all knew that if they were to make but one sudden move, Carver would shoot them.

Nick was afraid. He was more afraid than ever. He was almost wishing for this to be over, all of it. Would it work if he tried to keep Carver busy, so that the rest could go? It would be his last chance to prove to Luke he was worth something. He seriously started considering this option, but then he saw something, crawling over the ledge above Carver.

His head shot up. He tried to keep a straight face and not look at the light blue smudge that slowly made her way towards them.

Luke had seen it too. His eyes begged her to stop, he didn't want her to risk her life for them. Carver was too busy talking to notice anything though.

He was in the middle of a sentence, when the light blue smudge jumped, and landed on top of him.

He stumbled a few steps forward. It was a split second of confusion, but enough for the group to take control.

Kenny lashed out with his fist and hit Carver's jaw. Luke crept behind him and violently snatched the rifle out of Carver's arms.

'Get back.' He said as he pointed the rifle's nose at Carver. Nick almost felt like this was an appropriate moment to cheer.

Slowly everyone lowered their arms and several people around him bent over to take their weapons from the floor, without looking away from Carver.

'C'mon Luke. This ain't none of your business.' Carver said calmly as he raised his arms above his head. 'This is just a bit of a custody battle we got on our hands here.'

'Shoot him.' Rebecca said coldly as she shot a deadly look at Carver.

'We should tie him up.' Clementine commanded.

'Yeah, yeah we got any rope?' Luke asked, but no one had a chance to respond when they heard a gunshot behind them.

For a moment, Nick thought he was dead, but Carver groaned and pressed both his hands against his knee. When Nick turned around he saw Kenny. He hadn't bothered to lower his arm after he had fired the gun. He waited for a second, and then shot the other knee, resulting in Carver falling to the ground. Luke lowered his gun and looked sideways at Kenny with a stunned look on his face.

The entire group was quiet. The only sounds they heard were those of the herd outside and the happy music around them.

Kenny walked over to a table and picked up a crowbar. He ominously looked down at it. 'Go on, and wait outside.' He said. His words strengthened the tense atmosphere.

Nick was so glad he wasn't in Carver's shoes right that moment.

'We have to go.' Carlos mumbled.

'Kenny, please.' Sarita begged with a shaking voice.

Mike opened the garage door, and at once, they were exposed to the enormous herd in front of them. Everyone looked at Kenny, wondering if he was really going to do it.

'I only need a minute.' Kenny answered.

* * *

**... Cammie needs to hurry...**


	23. Safety in Numbers

**Safety in Numbers**

'Oh for fuck's sake…' I mumbled as I looked at the herd stumbling along the path in front of me, drawn by the music.

How in the world was I going to get through that? I gulped. 'Why can't life go easy on me for once?' I asked the sky, of course there was no answer.

The building was close. I could just see the roof above the trees, and the many people standing there firing their guns at the enormous herd. The lights of the fired guns were like lightning bolts in the dark night sky. I wondered why they thought they were any match against the herd.

The lurkers were kicking up dust clouds. They were constantly making noises that almost overruled the sound of the music coming from the building with their moaning.

The question that kept popping up in my head was, why would they turn the music on? Were they really so ignorant as to think they could take this entire herd down? They were either really heroic, stupid, or both…

I looked down at my clothes. They were filthy and red because of the lurker blood. I sighed. I saw no other option; it was time to give the herd walking another go.

_Because the previous attempt had ended so well…_

I had the feeling I was smelling enough like those monsters, but just in case, I looked around and my eyes quickly locked on the shape of a tiny lurker. It seemed to be a kid; or rather it seemed to have been.

_Can lurkers grow? _I softly hit my cheek. Now wasn't the time to be asking myself stupid questions. Of course they couldn't grow. They were dead.

The person inside the body was gone…

I crept towards it. When some leafs rustled the tiny lurker boy turned his head. I raised my dagger. The boy looked at me with his lifeless white fish-like eyes.

I hesitated. It reached out for me as it stumbled near. He fell over and dragged his rotting body through the mud.

I couldn't help but see the boy it had once been. I couldn't do it, but I had to. I closed my eyes and pulverized the little boy's head with my shoe. With one last gargle it fell silent. I used my dagger to cut open his stomach. I felt sick when I rubbed some of the blood of the corpse on my clothes and face.

Without giving the lurker one more look I walked away. What had happened to the world? Why did I have to kill little boys to survive?

_The last part… almost there._ More and more lurkers joined me, but they didn't notice me. I couldn't believe it was actually working!

I kept stumbling along the path while looking at the ground_. Steady… don't make a sound… one foot after the other…_

It felt better to look at the mud, than look around at the lurkers, who sometimes eyed me with suspicion. My uneven breathing was the only sound I made, my heartbeat pounded loudly in my ears.

I almost screamed when a lurker bumped into me, it groaned by the means an apology and stumbled on. My breathing go more rapid, but I forced myself to calm down. This would only work if I was as dead as the lurkers themselves…

After a while, I felt like one. I'd been walking for several minutes, occasionally walking as slow as a snail when I felt like the number of lurkers around me was too big.

I followed the music, the sounds. I didn't even immediately notice when the forest ground underneath my feet flowed over to asphalt.

Checking the building with its people on the roof to make sure I was out of their gun's reach, my eyes scanned the area. I was standing at a parking lot. The people up the roof were still shooting down at the herd.

I crept behind a blue container and sat crouched there to make sure I wouldn't get hit by a stray bullet.

When I looked over at the lurkers once again I frowned.

So now what? What exactly had I been planning to do as soon as I'd reached the building? Had I expected Nick to just run up to me, hug me and take me to fairytale land? What had I been thinking? This was no plan, this was called, throwing yourself into something big unprepared. How had I ever been expecting to find Nick between these flesh eating monsters? How would I be able to find any living being, who else would be stupid enough to throw themselves into a herd of lurkers?

I burrowed my face in my blood red hands… this would never work. What was happening to me? All of these sudden mood swings were starting to get really annoying. About an hour ago I'd been filled with hope because of the music, and now, when I finally made it, it seemed as if it had been for nothing. What lead did I have from here?

Just entering a building full of people with guns was the second most stupid thing I could do. The first being throwing myself in the herd of lurkers.

I sat down against the container.

I'd lost the tracks, I'd lost the trail. I took Nicks hat from my head and hugged it. I became aware of a cold wind and shivered. 'Nick…' I whispered, my voice sounded dry and raspy. 'I lost you…'

What bothered me the most, was that my stupid self had to realize this truth now.

I wanted to hold it for a longer while, but my head got cold. So I put Nick's hat back on my head and pulled my hood over it. The sweater was a bit too big, so the hood covered most of my face, properly making me unrecognizable.

If my younger self had seen me like this, the me from before the apocalypse, she would have laughed so hard because of how I looked like a cheap rapper now. A sad smile appeared on my face. My innocent self… how I longed for those days. the days my biggest concern had been making sure I would get good grades in class…

The herd got closer and closer. Soon I'd have to make my way through it. If stayed here they would devour me as soon as they saw me stand out. I had to move before the smell wore off. I didn't want to move though. The cold stiffened my limbs. I would never find Nick in this huge crowd. He might have moved beyond this point long ago anyway. I rested my head against the container as I hugged my knees.

I felt like crying, but couldn't make myself. It felt like all of my tears had dried up, or rather frozen solid.

* * *

On the other side of the complex, Nick looked over at the horizon. Countless amounts of lurkers stumbled over, or occasionally bumped into each other.

Inside of the complex, he heard Carver's cries of pain. Next to him Carlos covered Sarah's ears with his hands. Jane leaned against the wall, almost relaxed.

Nick realized he couldn't find Clementine anywhere; she wasn't still inside with Kenny and Rebecca was she? But no, Sarita walked outside with the Clem in her wake.

The noises inside silenced, and Nick sighed relieved.

He was gone. Carver was gone! Luke walked towards Rebecca and helped her out of the complex. Finally, they were ready to leave this nightmare behind them once and for all.

The relieved feeling started fading away however, when he saw the next chapter that lay ahead of him. The fear he'd felt just a minute ago was back.

They weren't that far now. More lurkers than he had ever seen together before. They were closing in on them. The music around him pounded in his ears, together with the shooting on the roof, it was the perfect lurker magnet.

'Here, you're gonna need somethin'' Luke said to Clementine as he gave her a small hatchet, and took out his own machete to take out a close by lurker.

Not knowing exactly what to do, Nick walked over to Jane, who clearly seemed to know what she was doing.

The girl raised one eyebrow at him, before taking a screwdriver from her pocket, and walking towards a lurker on the ground.

She stabbed through the thick skull, and turned around to look at him. 'Can I have your machete for a second?' she asked Luke who appeared next to Nick.

His friend eyed her with caution before handing his trusted weapon over. Without hesitation she sliced open the carcass, exposing its intestines.

Nick looked away when she pushed in her hands and rubbed the guts all over herself.

'Help yourself.' She said as she handed over Luke's machete. 'Make sure you're good and covered, you don't want them to smell something they like.'

Nick scratched the back of his head when Luke approached him with red dripping hands.

'Turn 'round.' He mumbled softly. Nick did as he was asked, and felt Luke's hands rub the stench all over his back.

If Nick could go back in time to tell Luke that in about 4 years, he would be rubbing some guys guts all over his back, Luke would have laughed, and told him he'd had too much beer.

Nick bent down, took a deep breath, and pushed one hand inside the lurker. He couldn't help but grimace when he pulled his hand out and heard a squishy sound.

He rubbed it all over himself, his shirt, his jeans, his neck and finally his face. (Carefully avoiding his nose and left eye) He didn't feel like it would make any difference though.

He could barely see the trees behind the huge group of walking dead.

'Man, were never gonna make it through this.' He said desperately to no one in particular.

Clem approached the two of them. She was just as covered in mush as any other lurker.

'Are you kiddin' me?' Luke asked. 'If Clem can handle it, you can.'

Nick frowned. There it was again. Prove this little girl was much more of use than he would ever be. It hurt to hear his friend say these things, even though it had been meant to encourage him, Nick felt more discouraged than ever.

'Shit.' Kenny whispered behind him. 'I thought they were commin' from the south.'

'They did…' Rebecca answered without lifting her eyes from the threat in front of them. 'Looks like we're in the eye of it now.'

'Fuck… this is fucked.' Mike said as he turned away from the herd to look at them. Nick could only nod. He knew exactly how fucked it was, why were they doing this? It was never going to work, but Nick didn't have the guts to say it out loud. Even though he was wearing someone else's guts on his face…

'What in the actual fuck is gong on here?!' Nick turned around when he heard Troy's voice behind him. 'What is this sick shit? Someone say something before I start-'

Luke slowly bent over to pick up his rifle, but Troy had seen it.

'HEY HEY HEY HEY, don't you even fucking think about it motherfucker 'cause I will end you! You hear me?!'

Luke slowly rose to his feet as he looked at the point of Troy's gun a few inches from his chest. He raised his arms.

'Troy.' Suddenly Jane, the last person Nick had expected, walked towards Troy while making reassuring gestures with her left hand. With the other she held a gun behind her back. 'Troy, we talked about this.'

She kept approaching him, and to his surprise, Troy crept back towards the complex.

'What? The fuck you talkin' about?'

'I told you I wanted to get out. You said you'd help, then I'd help.'

The lurkers kept coming closer. Nick didn't dare turn around to look how long they still had. He knew no matter how long, it wouldn't be long enough.

'I thought you meant get outta the pen, not whatever the fuck this shit is!' Troy responded, his back almost against the wall.

'I did, but now we can leave. Troy… you can come with us.'

Troy seemed to hesitate. 'What? well… where would we go?'

A lurker passed Nick, he was an inch away from it, but the thing had no interest in him.

'Away from here…' she said softly as she got nearer and nearer. '…Together.'

He smiled when she was but a few inches away from him. He still hadn't noticed the gun. 'Man, you smell really bad. You gotta take a bath before we-'

When Jane grabbed the hand that was holding his weapon, took her own gun and shot Troy's crotch in one fluent move, his screams could be heard over the entire parking lot

Nick made a disgusted face when he fell to the ground. Several lurkers rushed towards him when his loud cries overruled the music. They passed the group, and didn't even bother to look at them. As if they were of his kind.

They all threw themselves on top of Troy and started ripping him apart until his cries were nothing more than faint yelps of pain and agony, barely recognizable above the music.

It sickened Nick, but he forced himself to be more like Luke and Clementine, and turned away. Surprised he looked around. So far, everyone was unharmed… he couldn't believe it, he didn't want to believe it.

None of the lurkers heading towards what was left of Troy showed any interest in him or his friends. _So this is a part of what it feels like to roam the earth as an undead corpse…_

'Come on.' Jane said as she walked forward without any hesitation. 'Don't make any noise got it? They might hear something they don't like.'

The group lined up and walked after her. Nick gulped. This was the second most stupid thing he'd ever done in his life, the first being abandoning Cammie, or leaving his uncle and Clem back at the stream to save his own skin. He shook his head. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about these things… _Focus!_

'And for fuck's sake,' Jane continued, 'WALK, act like you belong and you will belong.'

This is crazy. He thought as he stared down at the asphalt. I'm gonna die.

* * *

I was lost in a sea of bodies. All I saw were flailing limbs, rotting faces and blood. I was in the middle of the herd. There was nothing but death around me.

After a while I'd gotten myself able to move away from the container, I had to, because the dead had almost cornered me. But was it any better to be surrounded by them this way?

I anxiously walked around desperately hoping I would see an opening, some way to get back into the woods. I couldn't stand still, the corpses never did. They couldn't realize I wasn't one of them. If they did… I didn't even want to consider that option.

I was scared. I was trembling all over. The rotting faces turned my way whenever a yelp of panic escaped my mouth. Their reactions reminded me to stay calm and be quiet, but I felt like I was going crazy.

I had never been claustrophobic, or something alike, but I started understanding what it must feel like to have such a phobia.

My right hand squeezed the grip of my dagger, while I kept the other as close to my body as possible.

They were everywhere. I couldn't hear anything but the moaning. What was I doing? One wrong move, and all of them would throw themselves on top of me like hungry wolves. 'Don't freak out now…' I whispered quietly to myself, barely making any actual sounds. 'Keep it together!' I tried not to freak out, I tried to remain calm, but it wouldn't work. I couldn't calm down, there were lurkers all around me!

I started hyperventilating. Several heads turned.

_No_

My pace got faster and faster,

_Fuck_

Some lurkers separated themselves from the herd to chase me.

_No no no!_

I couldn't take it anymore! _A panic attack at the worst fucking possible moment…_

I started running. I had to get away from here!

I pushed limbs aside and dashed forward as I desperately looked for an opening. A big lurker staggered when I ran into him, and I quickly changed directions.

They roamed around me. I couldn't smell anything but rotting flesh, couldn't see anything but rotting flesh. Some jaws got dangerously close making biting movements. I avoided them, but felt something scratch along my sweater.

It felt an awful lot like teeth.

Luckily he fabric was thick enough to protect my skin, but if I'd been wearing something sleeveless, I would have officially been bitten.

They had noticed me, I was the black sheep between the white. This was it.

The tears rolled down my face. I took my dagger out and desperately stabbed everything around me. It couldn't end like this. I didn't want to end as the millionth lurker to add to this enormous herd!

'No!' I shouted when something got hold of my wrist. Blinded by the tears I shook myself free and pushed the lurkers aside, I had to get away! I had to find a tree…

I couldn't think, I could only run, and so I did. I had to get away!

All hope seemed lost, when I ran into something and almost got knocked over. It made a surprised sound that almost seemed… human…

When I tried to push him away he staggered and groaned. He tried getting hold of my arms that mowed around me, to keep the walking dead at a distance.

After a struggle he held both my wrists in his cold hands. I tried to free them, but it was to no use, he was stronger.

_This is it_

I closed my eyes because I didn't want to look at what was about to be my death, I wouldn't go down without a fight, so I fought back.

'Leave me alone!' I cried loudly. Why hadn't it bitten me yet? I angrily tried to shake my way free. When I did, the hood fell down from my head, making my face was visible again.

'Cammie?!' the lurker whispered in amazement. I stopped moving at once.

But… he wasn't a lurker. I knew he wasn't when he wrapped his arms around me and held my tight. He squeezed me against his shirt. In a way that was already so safe and familiar it felt like I belonged nowhere but in his arms. 'What the hell are you doing here?!'

'I'm sorry… I'm so sorry I followed you!' I cried smothered. 'I know I shouldn't have, I'm sorry I-'

'We have to be quiet.' Nick whispered as he anxiously looked around at the lurkers, who had already noticed us. 'Shh… it's okay, I got you…' he then whispered protectively in my ear.

I couldn't help it though. Now that the tears were here, I couldn't stop them. All of the fear and sadness I'd felt since he left me came out at once.

'Nick, please please forgive me…' I sobbed.

He held my face in both his red hands. I felt too ashamed to look up at him because of the tears that still flowed down my cheeks.

'Nick… I love you…' I cried as I stared at his shoes.

With one hand he raised my chin. I closed my eyes even before his mouth found mine, and I forgot everything. He pressed his warm lips gently against mine. His kiss was warm and soft, but I could clearly sense the fiery passion behind it.

Kissing in the middle of a herd of cannibalistic monster may not sound like the most romantic thing ever, but I couldn't care less.

All of the noises around me silenced.

The gunshots, the loud music, the moaning of the herd… there was just he and I. I felt more at peace than I ever had. It was as if time stopped.

Whether I liked it or not, I was in love with Nick, and there was nothing I could do about it.

In a sea of people, (or rather, undead...) my eyes would always search for him.


	24. Out of the herd

**Out of the herd**

Everything after that happened in a flash.

Nick abruptly pulled back when I heard a loud scream behind me. I had no time to even turn around to look at who had made it. The screaming of two people, a man and what seemed to be a girl, sounded loudly through the herd.

'Daddy! NO!' I heard a girl cry.

'Sarah, get a hold of yourself!' someone whispered angrily.

Something blue rushed by, pushed me aside, as it struggled and crawled her way through the herd, until she appeared out of sight. The screaming had directed most of the attention towards something on the ground. It seemed to be a man. Poor guy.

Little lurkers were concerned in me, but I still had to duck to avoid some flailing arms.

I felt calmer than before, but the feeling of panic returned when I couldn't see Nick anywhere in the sea of bodies.

Oh no, this was not going to happen again! I didn't dare shout out his name, but it turned out I didn't have to when I felt his supporting arms softly pushing against my back. He brought his mouth close to my ear. 'It's okay, its me.'

I nodded and allowed him to lead me.

I was stranded in the middle of a sea of death. There was no hope around me, only blood. And yet I felt so happy. Nick was right behind me. He was alive, and he wasn't angry with me._ We kissed…_

I almost smiled, but a shoulder bumped into mine and I quickly fell back in my lurker character. I held in my pace so Nick could walk next to me. It felt better to see him, than just to know he was somewhere behind me.

Wow, he did the whole herdwalking thing really convincing! He even limped like one. Strangely though, he wouldn't look at me, or smile, but instead hid his face by looking to the right. Was something wrong?

I flinched because of more loud shouting next to my ear.

Really now? They had _one_ job…

It interrupted the steady rhythm of my pace.

Several lurkers rushed closer to the sound, but in a temporary opening I could just see a woman. Everything seemed to slow down. A lurker behind the woman had her hand in its mouth. She looked around and eyed terrified. Who could blame her?

I realized a little girl with a hatchet approaching her. She was wearing a light blue jacket so I almost hadn't recognized her, but then I saw who it was.

Clementine.

She seemed to hesitate. It was clear she wanted to help, and I couldn't understand why she wouldn't.

She lifted the hatchet above her head, and with one fast strike, almost sliced the lurker skull in two.

The bitten woman staggered and looked at her bleeding hand, with her eyes as big and white as the moon above my head.

'Clem... I-I'm bit, oh my god, no!'

She screamed once more, I closed my eyes. It was a horrible sight. Within that one split second, her life had as good as ended, and there was nothing she, or anyone could do about it.

_Apart from hack it of maybe… _Suddenly I realized why Clementine had hesitated, but it was too late already.

Nick grabbed my hand to guide me away. I almost got knocked over when someone else ran by.

Not everyone was as good at this as Nick…

'I'm goin' after Sarah!' he screamed, taking several lurkers with him.

'Luke…' Nick whispered, he turned around to face me, and I could finally see why he had shielded his face from me earlier.

It was full of bruises. He had a black eye, and a trail of dried blood leaking from his nose to the side of his face.

My eyes widened. 'Nick what have you…' I began, but he shook his head, squeezed my hand and pulled me with him through the herd, presumably after Luke.

I didn't even care where we went, as long as it was away from here and with him I was good.

I couldn't help it when I screamed out of surprise the moment a bullet from someone on top of the roof missed my previously wounded arm by an inch, and ricocheted against the asphalt.

It took forever, but I finally realized the number of lurkers around me was decreasing. It started getting lighter around me. Was it because of the watery morning sun, or the fact the area wasn't as thickened with the dead?

One particularly sharp lurker had apparently noticed something, because it caught me of guard and wrapped its arms around my neck from behind. In one swift move Nick took my dagger from its hilt and stabbed the lurkers skull an inch from my ear. The dead weight dropped to the ground.

'Thanks…' I breathed softly.

He nodded, but I saw his eyes widen when his gaze focused on something else behind me. I hadn't expected him to, but he launched at me and pushed me aside. I almost fell over, but managed to maintain my balance. I looked over to why he'd done that, and saw a lurker lying on top of him.

Out of habit my hand reached for my dagger, but then I realized it was underneath Nick and the lurker.

I panicked. No, this couldn't be the end! I'd just found him; he couldn't die! With all my might I kicked against the lurker's head. With a sickening crack its neck snapped and the head flew off, spinning like a razorblade.

Nick groaned as he tried to push the heavy body of him. I walked over to help, and saw several dead bodies stumbling towards us to see the commotion, or more likely to eat us…

As soon as Nick had his hands free he threw the dagger in the air. I caught it and slashed through several close body parts. Some of the corpses staggered, giving Nick enough time to get back onto his feet.

'C'mon, go!' he groaned as he pressed one hand against my back to push me forward through an opening, and the other against his stomach.

I didn't have time to see why he did that last thing as I dashed forward and got rid of the dead in the way to clear our path. Nick stumbled after me. The blood was all over our face and clothes, but I noticed there was something wrong with Nick.

We finally reached the end of the parking lot, and I hastely looked around trying to find a lurkerless-spot.

'Nick we might have to get higher up,' I said without looking back, but instead looking up at a tall tree before me. 'Can you climb?'

Behind me I heard him making pained noises. 'Cammie I...'

I turned around and ran up to him when I saw he almost fell to the ground.

The hand he pressed against his stomach was pure red, not brownish and gooey. It was his own blood, and the wound was fresh.

'Nick what's wrong?' I asked with eyes widened from horror as took his and and rubbed some blood of it.

'I... I don't think I can climb, but c'mon one we gotta move, now!'

I wouldn't budge, and he pulled his hand free and tried to hide and close the wound.

'I… it's nothing, let's just keep going!' he answered as he anxiously looked back at several lurkers, who were walking away from the general direction the herd was moving to.

I looked him in his eyes as I pressed my hand against his to help him stop the bleeding. 'Are you… are you bit?' I asked with an unsteady voice as I felt an awful feeling of fright boil up in my stomach.

All he did was look at me, his eyes just as full of fear as mine.

* * *

**Hey all of you bothering to ****read the boring messages at the end of the chapters, ;p**

**Sad news, I won't be able to update at all next week, and probably also the week after... It depends on whether my trip to New York is still happening or not, but I'll be in Berlin next week anyway, so no new chapters for at least a week, sorry..****.**

**(Yeah... I'm a traveling author... ;p) **

**For now, I'll leave you with another cliffhanger ;)**

**Love you guys!**


	25. Waiting for the Inevitable

**Waiting for the inevitable**

I didn't want to listen to the sounds around me. My own heartbeat pounded loudly in my ears.

Slowly and carefully we started making our way towards the safety of the trees.

It was rather heavy, having to walk for two. It was also scary, since lurkers normally wouldn't lean on each other, so we fell out of character.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw several of those monsters chasing us. In this pace, we weren't much faster than them.

A yelp of panic escaped my sealed jaws as I struggled to get us to the edge of the forest as quickly as possible. Nick's breathing got louder, and I could sense he was in a lot of pain.

There hadn't been any time to stand around, even if Nick was bit, I could never leave him behind. I had to get us somewhere safe.

'It's gonna be okay…' I mumbled, more myself than to him.

We stumbled towards the woods together. More and more trees started surrounding us, and I could hear less lurkers behind. Usually, they wouldn't give up on a prey so easily, especially not since the music had died of. But I had a feeling there was more food over at that complex than in the woods, because so many of them had given up the hunt. I stopped walking and turned around.

Three of them were still viciously trying to keep up with us. Carefully I let Nick stand on his own feet, and I hid behind a tree as I waited for them to get near.

'C'mon on then!' I heard Nick yell at the mindless monsters. 'Look at me you fucks!'

For a split second I thought he'd gone crazy, but then I realized what he was doing.

I jumped from behind the tree and took down lurker number one before my feet had touched the ground. The second one kept going for Nick, and I turned around to look at where the third one had gone, but it was nowhere to be seen.

I ran towards the staggering corpse closing in on Nick, who stood there bent over as he bravely faced the nearing death. I stabbed the lurker in its neck, it had little effect, so I twisted my hand half a turn, and the body fell to the ground with a last gargle. I held in my breath to listen if there was anything else following us, but the forest seemed quiet. Apart from a few birds here and there. When I looked at the way we'd just come from, I saw Howe's Hardware complex had almost entirely disappeared behind the trees.

I sighed. 'Thanks.' I mumbled in Nick's direction.

I sat down on a damp mossy rock and burrowed my face in my hands to catch my breath. I had basically been walking for two, and I was already hungry and tired as it was. Add that to the fact I couldn't completely rely on Nick like I'd done before because of his injuries, and you got yourself a rather hopeless situation.

'I don't know.' That low voice I now loved and knew too well caused me to lose my trail of sad thoughts. Instead a warm feeling spread from my stomach throughout my entire body, and for once a sensation coming from my stomach affecting my entire body wasn't hunger.

I looked up from my hands when Nick talked out of the blue. He was sitting against a tree bark, and surly looked the other way, avoiding my eyes.

I tilted my head a little, wordlessly asking him what he meant.

'I don't know… if I'm bit…' he desperately closed his eyes as he spoke. His face was pale. 'When I pushed you aside, I felt a pain in my stomach… and I…' His voice cracked. He sighed as he pressed his hand against the wound again. 'What else could it have been…' he mumbled in a more steady voice.

I frowned as I tried to find another explanation.

'It could have been your dagger, cutting me open.' Nick suggested. The way he said it made it sound like it was no big deal…

I made a face as I angrily looked down at my best friend and weapon in my hand. The muscles in my clenched fist relaxed, and the weapon fell to the ground with a soft thud.

Nick continued, because he hadn't seen me, 'it could also have been that lurker, biting me just before I fell.'

I didn't even want to consider that option. 'All we can do is wait.' My own words annoyed me, and the atmosphere between us got tenser. Goosebumps ran up and down my arms and I shivered. I had a nasty déjà vu feeling. If he really was bit, all we did now was waiting for the inevitable.

'Fuck...' he mumbled as he removed his hand from the wound and looked at his own blood dripping from it.

'Start telling me what happened to the rest of you.' I said as I made a hand gesture towards him.

He had a puzzled look on his tired face. 'What do you mean?'

'Well, your face is a good start.' I answered with a raised eyebrow. My expression flowed over in a worried one, as I had a better look at his beaten up face. 'Or tell me why you're limping.'

He smiled vaguely. 'So you've noticed? Hah… you know me too well…'

His eyelids fell down and he leaned his head against the tree bark.

'Nick?' I asked as I got up hastily and ran to where he sat.

His eyelids quivered and he looked up at me. 'I'm fine, well… as long as you can call the fact my heart still beats fine…'

I sat down next to him. In those romantic movies I always watched with friends when I was younger, something cute usually happened around now. I'd never been good at romantic stuff, but I decided I'd give it a try. I made him lay his head down on my lap. He clearly didn't feel comfortable about me having to protect him for a change, and for a second the whole maneuver seemed rather awkward. But after a while I could feel his shoulders loosen, and he closed his eyes again.

I softly ran my cold fingers through his warm hair.

'What did they do to you?' I whispered.

He wouldn't respond, and I understood why. It was nice not to talk about pain and death for a change, but after a while, he spoke in a broken and sad voice.

'Pete's dead.'

I gulped. I couldn't immediately find the words to say how sorry I felt for him. I wasn't used to it anymore since we lost people all the time now. On a daily basis…

'Pete is eh…' I hesitated, 'was… your uncle?' I felt like hitting myself in the face. _Wow Cammie, such a considerate way to put your question._

'Yeah.' He answered.

'I… I'm so sorry.'

He nodded and I could feel his chest shaking as he sobbed. He clearly felt ashamed to cry in front of me. Felt like it wasn't manly or something as stupid as that… but I didn't care.

He'd been talking about being able to move on, but part of moving on, in my opinion was confronting the sad truth, even if it hurt.

For a while we said nothing, we just sat there.

'Why did you come back for me?' he asked eventually. 'You were so much safer where I'd left you, and look at how much trouble ya got now… you can still leave know… if you want to.'

I frowned, and shook my head. The thought of having to be without him again didn't seem pleasant. 'Why I came back for you, haven't I made that clear yet?'

He slowly raised his head and sat up straight. He rubbed his eyes and looked at me sideways with a smile. 'Maybe.'

I laughed, but didn't have the guts to lean in for another kiss, so kept my distance. 'I thought you didn't want me to be with you after I'd lied about your friend, eh… Luke.'

'That's what I wanted you to believe.' He shrugged. 'It hurt, you immediately believed it though.' He looked at me with those clear blue eyes. 'I'm sorry.'

He seemed to hesitate, but brought his hand close to my cheek and stroked it. He clearly wasn't all to familiar with the whole romance thing either, but that made it even more cute, and less awkward from my perspective…

I closed my eyes and brought my face closer to his, and he slowly closed the gap in between our faces.

Kissing him when we weren't surrounded by danger felt different. It didn't feel forced in any way, I finally felt like I could relax. I lost myself, and the only thing I was still aware of, were his lips gently pressed against mine, and his arms he'd wrapped around me.

We sat there for I didn't even now how long, until I pulled back because I was out of breath.

My lips tingled and I had to resist the urge to touch them.

He looked down at his stomach. 'So what now?' he sighed and pulled my head against his chest. 'I thought we'd be out of trouble for a while when we fixed your arm, but it looks like I'm the liability now.'

I shook my head. 'We'll be fine, we'll figure something out…'

He laughed a humorless laugh. 'I don't see how.'

'It'll be fine…' I mumbled smothered because I pressed my face against the fabric of his shirt. I suddenly felt really tired, I could almost fall asleep in his arms, but at the same time I had to try hard not to cry again.

He stroked my hair and I heard him smile. 'I still don't understand why you came back for me though…'

I laughed and got up. I immediately regretted it though, because it was a lot colder without his arms around me. 'Okay now you're just being flirty!'

He tried to get up as well, but fell down again, so I bent over to help him. he leaned on me a little, and slowly raised himself to his feet.

'I just wanna hear you say it again…' he teased.

I chuckled and brought my lips close to his ear. 'Nick… I…'

He made a surprised sound and stumbled backwards when I blew in his ear.

I couldn't stop laughing, and bent over after his surprised reaction.

'C'mon let's move, maybe we can somehow find a way to clean that cut.' I said once I finally stopped laughing. I refused to call it a bite wound

I straightened Nick's hat, and while doing so, suddenly remembered I had it. 'Oh, I almost forgot.' I took it from my head and held it out for him. 'Your hat, I found it in the woods.'

He reached for it, but suddenly dropped his arm as if he'd forgotten what he'd been reaching out for. I stood on my toes to make myself taller and placed the hat on his head myself.

He took it off again though, looked down at it and smiled. 'Keep it, it suits you better.'

'A-are you sure? But its your-' I said as I looked up at him. even when slightly bent over he was taller than me…

'I'm sure.' He said, in a tone that I didn't dare go against. 'And besides, it's gonna get a lot colder, you're fragile, you'll need it more than I do.' He got closer and put the hat back on my head.

I smiled thankfully, but then realized what he'd said and frowned. 'Fragile? What's that supposed to mean?'

He laughed and we both started walking, or in Nick's case, stumble while leaning on me, but as little as he could manage. Nick seemed to feel better than just now, even though he certainly didn't look like it.

* * *

**Hi Guys,**

**Sorry it took me so long to update, there were some family issues, so I couldn't find the time to sit down and write. Also I felt like Nick was too much out of character this chapter, so I didn't look foreward to posting it, but Nick and Cammie had to catch up somehow, so I hope you'll forgive me ;) **

**My life is a lot more busy than it was a few months ago, so I may not be updating weekly anymore, ** I hope you guys will understand,****

b**ut I'm not the kind of person to just abandon a story, so I won't stop wrtiting until it's finished. As long as you guys still want to read it, I'll keep writing! **

**love y'all :)**


	26. Our First Argument

**Our First Argument**

'Wait…' I whispered. 'Did you hear that?' an eerie noise had caught my attention.

It could've been the wind, or perhaps a bird desperately trying to find some worms… but it somehow sounded… heavier than that. Even though heavy wasn't exactly the right word to describe it.

When I held in my breath all I could hear was my own heart beat and Nick's heavy breathing, but it hadn't been Nick who had alarmed me. There it was again. That annoying nerve wrecking rustling. It couldn't be a bird, but it was too stealthy to be a lurker. We were being followed.

The breathing behind the bushes… It somehow seemed familiar.

Nick was in too much pain to realize. He'd gotten even paler, and less talkative the last half hour. I started getting worried, but didn't have time to think about it when I heard the weird noises again. Snapping branches, bushes being pushed aside as if something, was slowly making its way toward us.

Nick slowly closed his eyes, kept them shut for a second, and then opened them again. Right at the moment he did, more rustling made me turn around.

Nick's eyes now widened. 'Not again…' he whispered.

He softly shook his head and limped towards the general direction of the sound. When he reached for a low hanging branch the sounds seemed to trail of. Nick pushed the branch aside, and we saw…

Nothing. There was literally nothing interesting in the clearing Nick had just revealed, but Nick seemed to have a different opinion on that. He stumbled towards the other end of the clearing and kneeled down.

I anxiously looked around before walking after him as I folded my arms in front of my chest because of a chilly breeze.

'What-?'

'Shh!' Nick hissed as he softly touched the ground.

'What's the problem?' I whispered back as I thought about kneeling down next to him, but changed my mind as I thought of how anything could sneak up to us like that.

'Look, look at that.'

I looked over to what he was pointing at. There were footsteps in the mud.

'They look rather recent to me…' I mumbled, considering myself an expert after having followed Nick's trail for so long.

'That's what I was thinking.' He answered.

Out of nowhere he groaned and pressed a hand against the wound in his stomach.

'Nick!' I yelped a little too loud. My voice was hoarse, probably because of dehydration, but the high-pitched sound echoed through the trees.

'It's fine, I'm okay, I'm okay…' he mumbled.

'No, no your not! And if we don't find a way to clean that soon, you'll end up just like me back when I had that wound!' without me realizing it, my hand clasped around my wounded shoulder. It still felt bruised, and the scar was definitely going to mar my skin forever, but it had healed.

He looked up at me and tried to calm me down, but it was to no use, I was worried about him, he couldn't die!

'Cammie, hey, c'mon listen to me…'

I burrowed my face in my hands as I leaned against a tree. 'It's hopeless, were in the middle of the woods…' I couldn't look at him, but his beaten self was a burnt image in my mind. Drenched in blood, his pale face full of purple bruises…

'Cammie…'

'What are we going to do, what can we do?' I said softly, my voice cracked and my breathing was uneven. Because of the lack of sleep I kept panicking about everything… it annoyed me those constant mood shifts. 'What do we do…?!' I repeated once more, louder this time.

'Cammie listen to me!' he shouted out above my panic attack.

I stopped talking and looked at him as he got closer and took my hand.

'We'll figure something out, I'm not gonna die yet alright?'

I looked at his determined face and nodded. He was so much different from that depressed guy I found in that shed weeks ago. He gave me hope.

'What do you suggest?' I asked.

He frowned and opened his mouth to answer.

Another branch snapped behind us and caused both our heads to turn. I placed my hand on my dagger in its hilt.

We both stopped breathing and tried desperately to catch any other noise, but nothing followed.

Carefully I tried approaching whatever lurked in the shadows behind the trees.

'Cammie, no!' Nick whispered, his voice just as hoarse as mine, as he tried to grab my wrist to pull me back.

I pulled myself free, and took a deep breath. This stupid thing had to be over. I was sick of getting startled all the time.

'We have a gun…' I told the emptiness in front of me.

An odd realization occurred me, had we lost all politeness in the world? I wouldn't start a conversation with a stranger with a simple "hi". Since when did I have to start by telling the other I could easily kill them? Politeness got you nothing anymore. Nothing but death that is.

'Who's there?' I asked trying to make sure my voice wouldn't shake as I did while I took another step forward. 'We don't want to hurt you, just show yourse-'

A low dark sound followed, it sounded deep, raspy and terrifying. Almost like growling. I stepped back, Nick rushed forward to shield me from whatever was about to jump out of the bushes, but as soon as he did, rustling noises indicated whatever it had been, had fled again.

For a second it was quiet.

'Well… that happened.' I mumbled.

'Something similar to this has happened to me before…' Nick suddenly spoke. 'I thought I'd imagined it because I was so tired, but I guess not.'

I looked at Nick's face, his black eye, the dried blood, partially lurker's, partially his own… I almost couldn't see the person behind the injuries anymore.

'I've also been stalked by something.' I responded thinking back to the big yellow eyes I'd seen right before almost getting eaten by that lurker.

Nick's tired eyes widened.

'I guess something haunts these woods…' I whispered, my voice barely louder than the wind. 'And I don't think its human.'

Nick had a look on his face I couldn't quite determine. He slowly bent over and pressed his muddy hand against the open wound. After a second he realized what he'd done. He wiped the hand clean against his army print jeans, tore some fabric from his already torn up shirt and pressed it against the bleeding cut.

'Nick-' I stopped myself just in time before asking "are you okay?" again, because of course he wasn't. Even though he'd told me it was going to be okay, we were still in the middle of the woods. Whatever could've helped us in the city, we sure as hell weren't going to find it in the middle f nowhere.

'We're going to follow those footsteps.' I decided out loud.

The eyes Nick had just closed out of fatigue shot open when my voice reached him. 'Wha- are you crazy, you know how dangerous that is?'

'I know, but it's all we got.'

He wanted to protest, but I held up my hand. 'Think about it, these are the only signs of human beings. Apart from that all we've got is the hardware complex, and excuse me for not wanting to go back there.'

'Cammie, we can't just-'

'They might be friendly, who knows, it could even be Luke…'

'And what if they're not?' Nick had an angry look on his face, and he probably felt like scolding me because of my stupidity. 'What are you expecting to find Cammie, because I'm pretty sure all we might come across is another survivor in the woods. What makes you think they're not starving as well? Supplies are getting hard to come by.' He concluded.

I opened my mouth to say something, but closed it again, and started following the footsteps. Something felt familiar here… as if I hadn't followed enough footsteps lately…

'Cammie, what are you- I thought we were together in this- do you know how stupid and unreasonable you're acting right now?'

His pleas got quieter as I walked on. I didn't hold in my pace, because I knew if I would, he'd know he won.

'Cammie get back here right fucking now!'

'I'm not your dog.' I reminded him as I kept walking.

Finally I heard him getting a move on, and he caught up with me.

'This is bullshit.' He said angrily.

I smiled. 'Look at us, our first ever argument.'

'This is not funny Cammie, I'm serious, we're basically throwing ourselves in the arms of death right now.'

'How cute, you're getting all poetic.'

Nick rolled his eyes. I slowed down slightly so that he could keep up with me and we followed the footsteps together.

'This still isn't a good idea, we should just head to the meeting point, everyone will be there and we'll-'

'And what if they're not, or what if you won't last that long?'

I glanced sideways at Nick. He gulped.

'These footsteps are the only promise we have to supplies.' I said as I tried to find a slight change in his hardened expression.

'You can't really call this a promise.'

Nick still had a grumpy look on his face, but kept walking.

'There's no telling if the group will have a better idea.' I said after a while. Nick only nodded and kept his mouth shut as he focused n keeping up with our steady pace. I decided not to bother him anymore. I had clearly won the argument. Either that, or he was too tired to argue with me any longer.

My thoughts trailed off to a happy place. A place with lots of ice cream.

To prevent myself from going crazy under pressured moments I'd taught myself that. It had become a habit, and I kept thinking of stuff like that when my mind stopped working under all the stress.

I didn't even look down as we walked, the trees and bushes seemed to have been pushed aside roughly by whoever had walked here, so it wasn't too hard to know where to go. He or she had either walked here often, or hadn't been to graceful, because he had created a clear path through the woods.

I looked up at the trees, at the grey sky. The weather had gotten colder and colder. It hadn't rained in a while and I had a feeling the rain would be snow soon. I'd stopped counting the days long ago, but I could feel the seasons and it seemed to be winter, perhaps almost mid. The more we'd move north, the earlier we would encounter snow. I definitely wasn't looking forward to that. I looked at Nick who was so pale it almost seemed green. He had dark purple bags underneath his eyes.

'When we've found a way to clean that wound you're really gonna need some sleep.' I said as I bent over slightly to be able to take a look at the face he now turned to the ground. Probably so that I wouldn't be able to see how dead he looked. But I knew.

'Wait.' Nick said and he kneeled down.

I didn't turn around, but stopped walking. He sounded more awake, and I was afraid he had second thoughts about my plan after all. 'Not this again Nick, I told you, this is the only thing we can-'

'No no, not that… look at the footprints.'

I looked down, and at first couldn't detect anything extraordinary, but then I noticed the even pattern of footprints had become messy. It almost seemed as if the person had suddenly gone blind as they were walking.

'Lurkers.' He said as he frowned.

'You think so? But back there they look normal. They couldn't have just turned like that… There are no other signs of life, or death around here. Besides, we can't go back now, even if we did want to go back to the complex, we wouldn't be able to make it anymore. We can only move forward.'

Nick started coughing. 'I'm just saying we gotta be careful.' He said in a cracky voice when the coughing had ended. We were seriously running out of time.

Nick had trouble walking straight. He stopped and closed his eyes.

'Please Nick, were almost there…' _I hope… _'Hang on.'

I wanted to support him, but he shook his head.

'I'll manage, I'd feel more motivated if we knew what's lying ahead of us.'

I raised an eyebrow. 'You mean you want me to go on ahead?'

'Not too far, stay in sight.'

I nodded.

I didn't really feel comfortable doing so, but I ran ahead without looking back.

It occurred to me later, that I hadn't given him any weapon, anything to protect himself with. I wanted to go back, but I knew how little time we had, and as long as I wouldn't wander of too far I'd be able to hear if he was in trouble… right?

I ran ahead, not going to far, but far enough to check our surroundings.

The steady sound of my feet running through the fall leaves was the only thing I hear for a while, until I was forced to stop, because the footsteps made a turn because of the path leading to a dead end. I'd gotten to what seemed to be the edge of the forest. The trees were a lot less thick on my left where the footsteps were going. I pushed a branch aside and had a strong dejavu feeling. With an open mouth my eyes greedily looked at a huge lake spreading out before me. I ran halfway towards the shallow, clear water before stopping myself thinking of Nick, and I turned around.

I wanted to shout out to him, tell him things were a lot less hopeless now that we'd found the water, but remembered there was someone else around, so I kept quiet.

My mood had changed drastically, and I ran the opposite direction of the footsteps.

As I ran back I saw a figure sitting against a tree. It was Nick, luckily. I stopped and bent over to catch my breath.

'Nick…. You gotta… come see this…!' I managed to say in between my gasping for air. I wasn't as fit as I normally was for some reason. 'There's… a lake… and I thought… we could…'

Nick had his eyes closed. I stopped talking. He wouldn't move. Was he even breathing?

'Nick?' I grabbed his shoulders and shook them. His head fell on his chest. 'Nick!' I pressed two cold fingers against his throat, and waited t feel his heartbeat. 'Nick…?'

* * *

**Heya guys,**

**don't worry, I'm back from the dead... ;) I'm so sorry I havn't updated in such a long time! **

**This chapter has actually been on my computer for a while, but for some reason I found it hard to publish, mostly because it seemed kind of below my level of writing. ****I changed some things several times, and ended up with this... **

**I hope the people still sticking with the story will like it... my life is pretty busy lately, but I try writing whenever I can. The story may seem a bit boring, or a lot the same right now, but trust me, things are going to get crazy. **

**If you still bother to read my story, thank you so much it means the world to me!**


	27. The Black Shadow

**The Black Shadow**

Together we walked through the woods. Nick leaned on me as we did. If we could just get to the water we could clean him and see for ourselves whether he still had a chance or not, or if he was bitten.

He breathed more slowly every step we took. The rising sun stung in my eyes as I kept pushing on. It had been long since I'd last eaten anything, let alone slept. I felt sick and dizzy, but I wasn't allowed to lose myself in self-pity, Nick was dying as I was dragging him through the woods. Had this happened say, 5 years ago I could have just dialed the alarm number. I would give everything to be back in those days.

My dry throat ached and screamed for some of the water I'd seen earlier. If only I had splashed some in my face back then…

Nick had almost gotten me a heart attack when he wouldn't respond earlier, but after a while I managed to get him up.

Running this on my own had been so much faster. There seemed to be no end to the road, if you could even call this forest path a road… perhaps we were walking in circles, I couldn't even tell anymore.

'You have to promise me something.' Nick breathed in my ear as I tried walking for two.

'Anything.' I managed to grunt back as I looked around desperately hoping to catch a glimpse of that lake, hoping my mind hadn't been playing tricks on me.

'If shit hits the fan, promise me,'

I didn't like where this was going… 'Anything but that.' I interrupted as I carefully made him stand on his own feet.

'Promise me you'll save yourself…' he finished, but it wasn't more than a hoarse whisper. He leaned against a tree and I turned away from him.

It broke my heart to see him like this. If this had been a TV show I'd been watching before the plague, I would have laughed at the irony of the fact that about a week ago we had been trying to get to the ski lodge. Only then, I had been the injured one.

Scanning the horizon I placed my hand on my forehead to shield my eyes from the rising sun.

Where the fuck was that lake?

Nick made a sound as he almost collapsed. I rushed forward and supported him with an arm around his waist. We couldn't keep going on like this.

'We have to-'

Rustling interrupted what I was about to say. Not again. I couldn't take it anymore…

But just as I was about to snap and angrily shout out to the thing it had to leave me alone, Nick gently took my head.

I turned around. Being gentle usually wasn't his thing. His eyes begged me to stay quiet. He shook his head and slowly pulled me near. When he pulled me against his chest my breathing slowed down, but my heart was beating so fast I was afraid he could feel it against his won chest.

'Cammie, we have to get out of here.' he whispered.

I nodded. The world was spinning, I needed water, I needed food but most importantly, I needed to get Nick to safety.

I looked around the forest path. Had I really been here before? Nothing seemed familiar anymore… how could I find the lake if I had no idea where to go? I closed my eyes and desperately tried retracing my steps. Steps… the footsteps; I had to find them back! They would lead us to the lake. Sadly we'd lost them a while ago.

We just kept walking. I didn't know where to go, but I had the feeling we were walking in a straight line…

I looked down at the ground. The harsh sunlight shining in my eyes wouldn't make things better.

Suddenly I recognized the footsteps. They took a turn! When I'd been running I hadn't even noticed.

'Nick!' I cried out happily. 'We're almost there!'

He sighed heavily. 'We better fuckin' be.'

I almost stumbled the last few meters. There, the thickening in the trees! It seemed as if the forest only got thicker, but beyond there…

I pushed the bushes aside, praying I hadn't imagined things. I held in my breath and opened my eyes. We were greeted by the large flat body of water sparkling in the early morning light.

'We made it! Nick we made it!' I hugged him, feeling rather proud of myself, but then I saw his face, his tired beaten up face. 'C'mon, let's get you cleaned up.'

He nodded as he let me go and pulled his shirt over his head.

I awkwardly cleared my throat as I felt the blood rise to my cheeks. I wanted to turn around, but his eyes caught mine, and I couldn't help but stare.

He stood half turned around, causing me not to be able to see his lower stomach where the wound was. It wasn't as if he looked good, as in healthy. He was skinny, his skin was pale because of a lack of sunlight, and his face was tired. But there a certain hotness to him as he stood there with his messy black hair, silver eyes, blood dripping from his muscular arms and that questioning look… It was enchanting.

'I… eh…' when he fully turned around, the spell was broken. The wound was massive. I couldn't quite tell whether it was a cut or a bite wound because a huge bloodstain surrounded it, but it looked severe. And if we wouldn't hurry it could get infected. Not to mention the amount of blood he'd already lost. 'Don't you think this water is filthy?' I asked him, no longer paying attention to the fact he wasn't wearing a shirt.

'Looks clean enough to me…' he answered in a tired voice. 'It's all we got.'

'True' I nodded absently. He approached me and I carefully helped him near the water. 'So… how do you want to do this?'

He could only softly moan with every step we took. He had one hand pressed against the wound, and yet his blood soaked both of us. We walked further into the lake.

I made him lean against a large rock in the water.

'Alright…' I mumbled as my eyes looked around the shallow water. The trees surrounded us. There wouldn't be any way anything could sneak up on us as long as they first had to stumble through the thick bushes.

I had plenty of time to do this. Nick hung his white undershirt and black t-shirt over the rock so that his back didn't have to lean against the sharp cold rock.

'Here' he said as he ripped another piece of fabric from his already torn shirt.

I took it from him and looked down at the filthy rag. It didn't seem smart to press this against the wound, so I held it in the water and tried to wring the blood out. It sort of worked… at least it seemed a lot cleaner than it had been before.

'Alright… are you sure?' I asked. When I clenched my fist I could hear the water from the rag drip back into the lake.

'I trust you.' He simply answered. He's face and parts of his body were still filthy because of the lurker blood. I thought about cleaning that first, so that he would smell less like a dead person, but decided the wound was more urgent. I probably didn't smell too good either, but I had my hands in the water and as I rubbed my forehead, I already felt a lot more clean than I did.

I nodded and started cleaning the edges of the wound. When the rag had soaked up too much blood I held it underwater to clean it again.

Every time my cold fingers touched his warm skin I felt butterflies in my stomach. I knew it wasn't the time, but I couldn't help it.

Nick was shivering. His teeth clattered and he had his arms folded in front of his chest as he desperately tried to keep the warmth in his body.

I couldn't blame him, it was cold, he wasn't wearing a shirt, he hadn't slept in days and I was cleaning him with ice-cold water.

The lake was shallow. It came to my knees, and didn't get any deeper elsewhere. For the first time in days it was windless, so there weren't any waves. Our legs got wet, and the water was cold, but I was so focused on hurting Nick as little as possible I didn't even really notice.

When I had cleaned the edges, the shape of the wound was more visible.

'What do you think?' Nick asked. He hadn't spoken in a while. The sudden sound of his voice startled me, and I dropped the rag.

'What do you mean?' I asked as I bent over and reached for the bottom of the lake to retrieve the piece of fabric.

'Does it look like a bite to you?' he sounded annoyed to have rephrase his question. He had to be really tired.

I got up and gave the wound a better look. The edges looked pretty sharply cut. Teeth couldn't have done that. But then again, the wound was way too wide, Nick had only fallen on the dagger, how could it have made such a deep cut? 'I wouldn't know,' I finally said. 'I'm no expert but it looks like-'

'Cammie.' The tone of his voice made me realize there was something wrong.

My head shot up. Nick had an anxious look on his face, and his gaze reached out to something behind me. I slowly turned around.

There was rustling, of course there was. There had been for the past few days. But this time, it wasn't just the rustling. A large black shadow emerged from behind the trees.

It was huge; it had a black fur and the same pair of big yellow eyes I'd seen in the dark days ago.

'Shit.' I whispered at the sight of the wolf-like creature that slowly approached us.

Its upper lip was curled up, revealing its sharp white teeth. Its ears were flat against the back of his head, a sign of aggression… for the first time in days, it wasn't the cold that made me shiver, but a low growling coming from the beast in front of us

'Don't move…' Nick whispered in my ear. He carefully got up. Standing on his ankle probably still hurt, because he almost fell over and had to lean on me.

I did as he told me and wouldn't move a muscle. Carefully Nick started approaching the thing.

To my surprise it's tail dropped down between its legs, and it started backing away towards the trees again. Now, instead of growling, yelping like a scared dog.

Nick managed to make it out of the water. He still limped, and the wound was still bleeding. He looked like he would be falling over any second.

I slowly made my way toward him.

The yellow eyes shot towards me, and rested on my face. It was as if the wolf-dog tried to tell me something.

Nick kept closing in on it.

Suddenly the wolf-dog curled its lip up again, and barked loudly. Nick kept limping nearer. The wolf-dog barked again, and again. I started feeling anxious.

'Shh, it's okay boy, it's okay…' I whispered from behind Nick, hoping to calm it down somehow.

For a second the dog's ears shot up out of curiosity and it stopped growling as it heard me speak, but then he focused on nick again, and its entire attitude changed back to scary and aggressive.

The wolf-dog had a foaming mouth. It was still backing up and it eyed Nick with anxiety. But then, it seemed to hesitate.

Suddenly it stopped backing up. Nick however, kept closing in and he could almost reach for it if he wanted to.

He made calming gestures with both his hands, but the wolf-dog snapped and lashed out for Nick's hands with its

Nick pulled his hands back, startled, and pushed me away. He wouldn't say anything. He just pushed me. But I knew what he wanted. He wanted me to save my own skin.

When he pushed me, I almost fell over, and I saw a small hill that ran along the riverbank. On the hill was a tiny cabin. Perfect! But then I noticed, the footprints led to that house… they seemed messy and hasty

I quickly made up my mind. We had no other choice.

'C'mon Nick, towards that building!'

I started running, and heard Nick limping after me. When I turned around I saw the black creature. His white teeth were bared. His warm breath swirled like a cloud around its head. It almost seemed as if it hesitated to chase us, but when Nick caught up with me and pushed me ahead, I could hear it bark.

I stumbled the last few meters towards the door. The door was locked, of course.

The building was a tiny wooden cabin. On one side was a window that seemed for exchanging things from the inside to the outside. It seemed to be some kind of ticket stall, or minibar. Perhaps this lake was for ice-skating in the winter, maybe that was the reason the lake seemed manmade.

I cursed as I tried banging in the door. I didn't weigh much, and it had little to no effect.

'Let me try!' Nick said, but I shook my head. He was in no condition to start ramming things.

Behind us I could hear the ferocious growling of the beast. It wasn't far now, and if I wouldn't get the door open we were done for.

Feverishly I tried to come up with a way to open it. There was no padlock on the wooden door, just a plain lock you'd find in any house door. Next to the door was a hook, but of course there were no keys hanging there, that would have been too easy.

'Find a way to get in.' Nick said to me, 'I'll try distract this thing.'

'No Nick, you can't-'

'Just hurry!' he ordered, as he picked up a stick and ran down the hill towards the black wolf-dog. He violently swung it around, but it wouldn't back of. Eventually it caught the branch, and bit it in two. I could hear the snapping sound echo through my head. That could have been Nick's finger.

I ran a circle around the wooden cabin. I was desperately trying to find a way in, but in vain. When I got back to the door I wasn't any wiser. I couldn't think straight, not when I knew Nick was behind me fighting some kind of monster.

Angrily I banged on the door with my fist. Why couldn't life go easy on us for once? Furiously I kicked a decorative flowerpot next to the door. When the nose of my heavy boot hit the old pottery it shattered into pieces. The fake brown dirt got all over the ground around the shards, and something sparkly caught my eye.

A spare key, there was a spare key in the fake pot! I got on my knees and dug through the dirt. After a few seconds my fingers clasped around the solid key and I held it up. It was rusted, old and ugly, but it had to be the right one, it just had to be!

Nick screamed all of the sudden and I turned around. The black thing bit him in the ankle and Nick fell over.

Without thinking I rushed over to help him. Nick was lying on the ground, struggling to get the big wolf of him.

I hated violence against animals, I always had. But there was no other way. I kicked it in his side and with a loud yelp the wolf-dog fell of Nick and rolled down the hill.

'C'mon Nick hurry, it could get back up any second!'

Seemingly with the last but of power he had left in him Nick got up as I supported him.

Just a little further, almost there…

I had one arm around Nick's waist. He felt ice cold. With one shaking hand I tried to push the key in the keyhole. My own anxiety caused me to miss twice, but finally I managed to fit the flat piece of metal in the lock and I turned it. The door swung open and Nick and me fell in. I got trapped underneath Nick, who seemed to have fainted.

I had about as many muscles in my arms as a chicken did, but summoned all the power I knew I had in me somewhere and pushed Nick of me.

The black thing already came running towards the open door, and I closed it right before its nose. On the other end of the door I could hear it bark and scratch hoping to get in somehow, but if I hadn't been capable of opening it, he would never.

I didn't have time to celebrate just yet though, because the danger hadn't passed.


	28. Improvising

**Improvising**

A gargle made me slowly turn around. I had heard enough lurkers to know exactly what that meant. In my head I just kept repeating: _please don't be Nick! please don't be Nick!_

When I turned around Nick was still lying on the floor. His skin pale, but he was alive. I turned my head toward the sound and saw a lurker sitting in an armchair. It was skinny, and had bite marks all over him. This guy must have been attacked, and locked himself in. so that was why the trail had gotten so messy… he had been dying along the way.

The lurker slowly raised his head and held out his bloody fingers. It fell from the chair and started crawling towards Nick, who was lying on the floor defenseless.

I quickly rushed near Nick and raised my foot, prepared to stomp the lurker, it wasn't looking at me anyway.

But suddenly it changed directions and went straight for me. I had never seen lurkers change direction before. The lurker seemed to have hesitated… The truth slowly occurred to me, Nick didn't smell human anymore.

I didn't have time to waste and got out my dagger, but at the same time the lurker grabbed me and I fell backwards onto the wooden floor. The corpse crawled on top of me and I tried to push it off, but only managed to create some distance between my and the blood-dripping jaws. I reached for my dagger, knowing it had to be somewhere on the floor, but when I slightly turned my head I saw it had slid underneath a big wooden closet. Fuck!

I noticed something else right next to my head underneath the closet. There were two bottles of whiskey. I grabbed one and pulled the bottle from behind my head. Without hesitation I smacked it against the lurkers head and it shattered into pieces.

Whiskey spilled on my head and it stung in my eyes. It burned so bad!

The lurker's head had been damaged, but it was still moving. The force had knocked it off me though, and I got to my feet as quickly as possible. The burning liquid in my eyes made me dizzy, and I had to fight the urge to close both my eyes. Quickly I scanned the room with tears blinding my sight, for anything I could use. The lurker had already gotten up and made some sort of pathetic run towards me. Somehow the bottle had cracked its skull, and the brain was visible. All I had to do was find a way to finish it.

I jumped aside just in time and the dead body collided with the wall. My feet made the glass on the floor crackle and I realized that was the only thing I had. I got on my knees and searched through the broken glass for a usable shard. My hand clenched around the biggest one, and blood dripped onto the floor.

I closed one eye that stung too bad to be of any use and aimed for the lurker's knee as I kicked. It fell to the ground and I stabbed the glass shard right where its brain had been revealed. It went deep in there and I twisted it around until the lurker stopped gargling. It fell to the floor when I let go of the glass.

I let out a heavy sigh and rubbed my eyes but that only made the stinging worse. On the other side of the room Nick grunted. That made me realize he was still there, and desperately in need of help.

I almost stumbled over the lurker corpse as I made my way towards him and fell on my knees. His bare chest was covered in blood, and goosebumps ran up and down his arms. He was shivering all over. His breathing was slow but even, it probably meant he had fainted. Whiskey soaked my hair, and it dripped onto his chest.

Then it hit me. Whiskey, _alcohol_! There had been another bottle underneath the closet!

I got up and ran towards the closet once again. I pushed the lurker out of the way. My hand stung as I did so, but I paid no attention to it. My non-wounded hand clenched around the bottle's neck. I had no bottle opener to get the burning fluid out, so I slammed the bottle against the table and the top broke off. It wasn't the best solution, but I had little time. I didn't want to think about whether it was a good idea or not to clean a wound with whiskey, I didn't see any other option.

As I walked back to Nick careful not to spill any of the whiskey from the broken bottle I heard the barking outside. That fucking dog was still trying to claw its way in. what was wrong with that thing… I didn't want to, but if it kept blocking our way out like that I might have to put it out of its misery… the thought alone made me sad.

I kneeled next to Nick on the floor. He slowly opened his eyes. The white around his pupils almost seemed yellow… or was I imagining things?

'Wh-what are you doing…?' he asked softly in a hoarse voice as he saw me approach his wound with the broken bottle.

'I'm so sorry Nick, this is going to sting real bad…' I wished I knew something else to say, something to comfort him… but I could only tell him the truth.

I still had the piece of fabric from Nick's shirt in my pocket. I pulled it out, pressed it against the bottle and tilted it. My eyes still stung, and the burning smell of the whiskey made me want to sneeze…

I slowly started cleaning the edges of the wound until there wasn't any blood left on his stomach. I looked down at the fabric, it didn't seem wise to clean the deep cut with a piece of fabric soaked in blood.

Nick's tired eyes widened when I slowly tilted the bottle.

'I'm so sorry…' I whispered as I grimaced.

As soon as the fluid touched his skin Nick screamed and I had to put the bottle of whiskey down to press his arms against the floor in order to keep him calm. Nick's screaming overruled the barking outside and I could only wish there weren't any lurkers nearby.

When he finally seemed calm enough I let go. The wound was still bleeding, but the blood looked pure red and fresh. I hoped it was disinfected enough.

I scanned him for any more injuries, and remembered how the dog outside had bitten him. His pants were torn, but they seemed to have slightly protected his ankle.

'Alright, now you're ankle…' I said sadly.

Nick gave me a frightened nod as he tried to sit to roll up his trouser leg to reveal the wound.

He made a weird noise and fell back.

'It's okay…I got you.' I said as I carefully revealed the bite wound the dog had gotten him outside.

The bite wound didn't seem severe, it wasn't even bleeding that much. I just hoped dog bites didn't count as lurker bites. What really worried me was his throbbing ankle. It was swollen and seemed broken.

Nick followed my eyes when I didn't do anything.

'Don't worry about that…' he mumbled. 'It already hurts less than a few days ago.'

I nodded hesitantly and cleaned the ankle.

'How do we get that cut closed...?' I mumbled to myself.

'There's a fishing line over there…' Nick said as he pointed at a fishing hook leaning the wall in a corner of the room. Nick sounded drugged.

I looked over at the old rusted rod and my eyes widened when I realized what he expected me to do. 'Are you kidding me, I've never stitched up a wound before!' I said and my voice sounded a bit higher because of what Nick indirectly asked me.

'It's not of much use if you can't find some sort of needle.' He said. He still looked horrible. His face was pale, from the blood loss hopefully, and his breathing slow. He seemed to find it difficult to exhale.

I realized I'd have to, if I could find a way to stitch him up there was no other way.

'I-I'll keep looking around, see what I can find…' I said. There wasn't much in the cabin. It was a small room. In the center stood a big red comfy looking armchair in front of a hearth. The last time I'd seen a fireplace had been when we'd been at that lodge.

My first guess, that this had to be some kind of ticket booth for ice-skating seemed to be pretty spot on. The window was barred with a wooden plank, but it seemed to have some sort of hatch. On the wall there were some posters of an ice skate or a frozen forest. There was also a fish pinned to a wooden board. It seemed fake.

I walked over to the fishing rod. I noticed the barking outside had stopped. Maybe the dog had finally given up… God I hoped so… not only for our, but also its own good.

I untangled the fish line and looked at it.

'What other options do I have?' I asked Nick without turning around. He didn't answer. I didn't have the guts to ask him if he was still alive, all I knew was that I didn't have much time left.

I just had to find something like a needle… I was going to have to improvise… I continued searching the room and checked the closet. There was a jacket. I searched the pockets, but there was only a dog biscuit. No needle. What had I expected? Not everyone carries a needle around in their pocket. I shrugged and put the dry biscuit in my sweater's pocket. You never know, we might have to distract that dog.

The table's drawers contained nothing but old documents. On top of the closet, only dust. There wasn't anything sharp to be found.

I looked at the dead fish pinned to the wooden plank and sighed. When I lowered my eyes I noticed at a noticeboard. Hmm… there has to be some unintended pun somewhere in that remark…

I walked near without really thinking about it

_CHEER UP YOUR HOUSE WITH BOB'S FURNITURE, DON'T MISS OUT ON THE SUMMER SALES!_

_CAT FOOD 3 FOR 2!_

_FISHING CONTEST JULY 4th_

…and more of these kinds of irrelevant advertisements. There was a printed out email also pinned onto the noticeboard.

I got curious, and took the pin out of the wall to take the email, but dropped the email and stared at the pin in my hand. I couldn't believe my own stupidity. The pin was perfect. It was as sharp and small as a needle, and had a little pellet at the end, which I could tie the fish line to.

My hands shook as I tied the line around the pellet and dipped the "needle" in a puddle of whiskey next to the shattered glass.

'Alright…' I whispered. 'I got this.'

Nick moaned pained when I pressed the improvised needle through his skin.

'I'm sorry.' I said as I repeated the same action. The fish line closed the wound as I pulled the needle through.

At first I felt scared having to hurt him, but after a while I finally managed to close the wound and stop the bleeding.

Nick had fainted. He was breathing slowly and I imagined he had to be hungry and cold. I could get his shirt outside, but that dog thing was still around and I didn't want to leave Nick alone.

I sighed and grabbed him. Nick was heavy, but somehow I managed to lift him into the armchair.

When I opened the closet I pulled out some white sheets. I retrieved my dagger from underneath that same closet and used it to cut a long and broad piece from the sheet.

I walked over to Nick and wrapped it around his waist as some sort of improvised bandage. The sheet immediately soaked up the last bit of blood around the edges of the wound making it look severe, but apart from that Nick should be disinfected. I looked down at him. It was hard to be proud of my work when he still seemed so weak and unstable…

I took the remains of the sheet and wrapped them around him trying to get him warm.

Next to the fireplace was a basket full of small old branches. They seemed to be more decorative than of any use, but it was worth trying.

I got down on my knees and piled up some of the dry branches. I was grateful for the fact I always carried my firestones around with me. I got them out of my pocket. It took several tries, but eventually the branches caught fire and I could feel the warmth on my hands as I stretched them out towards the heat.

It was then I realized how cold I actually was myself. My left hand was still bleeding because of the glass shard I had used to kill the lurker, speaking of which, trying to create a cozy atmosphere wouldn't exactly work if there was a decaying corpse in the middle of the room.

I walked away from the fire and went over to the table to take the bottle of whiskey. I sighed. This would hurt. I spilled a few drops of it on my hand and wined softly. I hated being vulnerable like this, but man that hurt!

I hoped whiskey cleaned anyway… I remembered reading something about it, but if the whiskey hadn't properly done its work, Nick was still in danger. Not to mention it might be possible the infection had already entered his bloodstream… we weren't out of the woods yet…

I gave the broken bottle a suspicious look. 'You better have cleaned those wounds…' I mumbled. 'Cause you do fuckin' hurt.' My eyes still stung a little. And I squeezed them.

When I looked back at the fireplace the fire was already smoldering. I was going to need heavier branches to keep it lit for a while. I really wanted to wait for Nick to wake up though...

My stomach rumbled. There didn't seem to be any food in the cabin, perhaps I could go look for some…

Leaving didn't sound appealing, but I had to find the things necessary to keep Nick and me alive. I didn't want to accept it, but I felt like a wreck as well.

I searched through the drawer for a pen, couldn't find one and frowned.

As I looked at the remains of the fire I suddenly thought of something I'd loved doing when I was younger, drawing with charcoal!

I walked over to the fireplace and looked sideways at Nick. His whole face was relaxed when he slept, for once not the pained grimace, or worried frown. I liked him that way and for a second couldn't help but wonder if he had always looked so peaceful before the apocalypse.

When I fished a good piece of charcoal out of the remains of the fire I burnt myself. Out of reflexes I dropped the charcoal and cursed while waving my hand through the air. As if my hand hadn't been damaged enough already… I had wrapped some of the same sheet from the closet around my hand, it had stopped the bleeding since it had been just a small cut, but the bandage looked cheap.

The charcoal fell next to the email on the floor, and I had immediately found a paper. I picked up the printed email from the floor and turned it around.

It felt so weird to write something down after all these years. The skill had never been required, so my unpracticed handwriting looked like that of a toddler.

_Nick,  
__Out looking for supplies. Be right back.  
__Don't go looking for me,_

I hesitated but wrote the next thing down anyway.

_Love you :)  
__Cammie_

Frowning I scored out the smiley. That seemed too childish.

I walked over to Nick, softly kissed his forehead and was relieved his temperature didn't seem high like that of a bitten person would. This didn't have to mean anything of course, but high fever was never a good sign.

With a sigh I opened the door from the cabin after having made sure my dagger was where it belonged, safely in its hilt.

The cold air made me shiver, and it was only after I had already been walking for a couple of minutes that I remembered I could have taken that coat from the closet in the cabin.

The "beach" seemed to go on for quite a while. It was too small to really call it a beach, and the shallow man made lake was by no means a sea, but I liked thinking I was on the beach as I looked down at my feet while walking through the sand. It reminded me of better days.

There was nothing in the sand though, not even some dry branches so I decided to go back into the woods, this time paying good attention to where I was going.

I hadn't really expected to come across food, but every so often I found a dry branch to my liking and picked it up.

Just when I'd decided I had about enough of them to keep the fire lit, something made me drop the branches.

Rustling.

Motherfucking rustling behind me.

'You've got to be kidding me…' I wined desperately as I turned around. When I did, a bird flew of. I frowned. No dog, no lurker, no people. Just a bird…

My anxiety melted away and I laughed as I bent over to pick up the branches. But when then my breath stuck in my throat.

When I slowly raised my head the dog stood before me. It's white teeth visible as it eyed my every move. If only it had been another bird…

For a while I said nothing. I just looked at the dog. It was definitely big, and would be able to devour me if it wanted to. But it didn't. The dog just stood there in defense mode. It didn't make any attempt to attack me.

I remembered how the dog had stopped attacking for a second when I spoke.

'Easy boy…' I whispered.

I remembered the dog biscuit and got it out of my pocket. As soon as I did the dog's whole demeanor changed and it sat down wagging its tail as it eyed me with begging eyes. I didn't quite trust the dog, I was afraid it would get vicious if I ran away, so I would have to be careful.

It didn't seem safe to get close so I threw the biscuit in the air as some kind of peace offer. The dog got up, jumped and caught it.

I tried getting a little closer. 'Its okay boy…' the dog slowly raised the other ear and wagged its tail a tiny bit, but as soon as I got too close it growled angrily.

I really needed to move on…

I slowly bent over and picked up a branch. 'Here, wanna play?' I carefully held it out, and the dog slowly approached me. I didn't dare move my arm knowing full well he could bite it off if I did.

He slowly opened his mouth and I resisted the urge to close my eyes, because I was so afraid the sharp row of teeth would be in my arm any second.

What was I even doing?

The dog bit in the stick and I let go. It slowly wagged its tail and dropped the stick as it stepped back while nodding at it.

I smiled and carefully bent over to pick it up again. I did everything in as slow of a pace as I could manage because I was so afraid to scare him off. I threw the stick in the bushes and the dog immediately went after it.

I should have run, but I had never had a dog before, my mother had been allergic, so this whole experience was new to me. I got a bit caught up in it.

The dog came back and happily carried the stick back to me. I laughed. 'Good boy!' I praised him, and without really thinking about it I reached in to pet him. The dog barked and immediately went back to defense mode. I abruptly pulled back my hand, and as soon as I did it wagged its tail and looked at me with curious eyes. I couldn't believe how quickly its mood could change.

'Okay, I won't do that again…' I said as looked at the hand thanking the fact I still had all five fingers.

Suddenly the dog's ears shot up and it backed away from me barking at the bushes behind me.

'What is it boy?' I asked as I turned around. Like I even had to ask… a decomposing head followed by a rotting body struggled its way through the bushes and glared at me with milky white eyes.

Behind me I could hear the dog take off. 'Making a run for it again huh…' I mumbled.

I sighed and without even bothering to take out my dagger I stomped the lurker's head until its brain was no more than a mushy puddle.

The dog stayed gone, and I caught myself feeling kind of sad about that. He seemed to be a good lurker detector, if he hadn't warned me, the lurker could have gotten me by surprise.

I shrugged the thought away, picked up the branches and looked around. I had been so distracted by the dog's sudden appearance I had forgotten which way I'd been coming from.

Where was the path leading back to the cabin again…?


	29. Getting Back

**Getting Back**

Stumbling through the woods I tried to find a point I recognized that could somehow lead me back to the cabin, or at least the beach. It was to no use though, every tree looked alike. If only I had a compass or something…

My grumbling stomach didn't make things better. I hadn't eaten for God knows how long and I had the feeling I would collapse soon. I was so tired and hungry I didn't even pay attention to the rustling behind me. You could also say I'd gotten used to it.

When I finally stopped walking and turned around with a sigh I saw a black tail stick out behind the bushes. Looks like I made a friend…

'Red light…' I joked. My voice sounded as tired as I felt.

The dog emerged from behind the trees and wagged its tail when it saw me. 'You lost boy…' I laughed.

All it did was look back at me with a blank expression on its face.

I frowned. The dog still didn't seem like a reliable companion. I figured it was just as hungry as me, and hungry animals get vicious. It couldn't hurt having some company though… as long as I made sure I kept my dagger close just in case I should be fine…

'C'mon boy…' I mumbled. I walked on, and the dog kept up with me in a steady pace staying two to three steps behind. Perhaps it trusted me as well as I trusted him. I turned around and looked down at the dog. 'Do you have any idea how to get back?' I asked him.

The dog tilted its head when he realized I spoke to him and looked at me with curious eyes. He wagged his tail a bit, but of course it had no idea what I was saying. I shrugged and pushed a branch aside, but abruptly pulled my hand back when the dog barked. I looked behind me and saw it had its ears up straight as it growled at whatever was beyond the branch I had been about to push out of the way.

Just as I was about to ask another pointless question the dog dashed in my direction. Out of reflexes my hand went to my dagger, but the dog ran past me and disappeared behind the bushes. Normally if there was danger it would head the other way, that led me to believe whatever was there, was worth checking out.

When I made my way through the bushes it turned out I was wrong though. The dog had led us to a small clearing hidden out of sight by a couple of high thorny bushes. In the middle of the clearing was a heap of ashes. Suddenly I noticed what had caught the dog's attention. When I moved closer I could smell the fragrance of extinguished fire. It was vague, but it led me to believe whoever had been camping here hadn't left that long ago. Perhaps it was the dog's owner or something…

I looked around, but there really wasn't anything useful to be seen around the clearing.

The dog was digging through some leaves with its nose. I paid little attention to him and sat down next to the ashes as I tried to retrace my steps in my head. There had to be a way to find back the cabin. I couldn't have strayed that far…

Just as I was about to get up and try orient where I was the dog happily walked up to me with something in his mouth.

'Whatcha got there boy?' I asked. When I approached the dog it growled and stepped back. 'Let go…!' I ordered. To my surprise the dog's ears fell flat against its head and it dropped a can onto the ground. It fell with a soft thud.

For a second I was surprised of the fact the dog obeyed me, but I didn't really dare pick the can up, I was afraid the dog would bite me if I did. It just sat there though and stared at the can with the same begging eyes as when I'd had the dog biscuit in my hand.

I carefully bend over and snatched the can away. When I did the dog looked up at me with expecting eyes.

I looked at what he'd found. It was a can of peaches I recognized the design form somewhere but couldn't quite remember from where. I'd come across many different cans; this didn't have to mean anything. For all I knew these cans were just common around here.

I carefully placed it back on the ground and looked at the dog.

'Where did you get that?' I asked. The dog got up and wagged its tail as it barked once.

I walked over to the pile of leaves the dog had just been digging through, brushed some of the leaves away and revealed two more cans. They contained beans by the looks of it.

The cans had been carefully concealed. Without the dog I probably wouldn't even have found them.

All three the cans were full. For a second I struggled with the idea of taking them, after all they belonged to someone else and this person might come back. My own stomach quickly ended the dilemma when it growled so loudly even the dog raised its head from where its was laying on the ground. I sat down about a meter away from it and took my dagger out.

The dog got up and sat down closer to me when her realized what I was going to do. I carefully sliced off the lid and looked into the can of beans.

I took a couple out and placed them in my mouth. Man that tasted good! Just as I was about to have some more the dog yelped softly. 'Right…' I said. 'Sorry boy, I'd forgotten about you for a sec.' the dog wagged its tail.

'It's your find after all, so it would only be fair if I gave you as well.' I said as I tilted the can a bit and purposely spilled a hand full of beans onto the ground. The dog immediately got up and ate them all. I laughed, but the smile melted off my face as the dog got closer. I got up and backed away a bit. Suddenly it started growling softly. I didn't like this… I didn't like where this was going at all. The dog got closer and it revealed its teeth. What had I been thinking trying to befriend this thing? He was a wild animal!

I couldn't take it anymore, and I snapped. 'That's enough!' I yelled. The dog flinched when my loud vice echoed through the trees. 'Sit down!' I yelled as I pointed at him. The dog seemed to hesitate, but sat down after a few seconds. I seemed to have made clear who was in charge now, and the dog avoided eye contact.

'Th-that's a good boy.' I said. I felt bad for him; he looked skinnier than any dog I'd ever seen. I placed the can on the ground. The dog looked up at me. 'Go ahead.' I sighed.

That was all the encouragement it needed. He almost attacked the can and within a few minutes it was completely empty.

I was so incredibly soft… feeding a dog.

'Ah well… what's done is done.' I said to him. At least I'd now proven I still had some humanity left in me. Good karma could never hurt… unless this would be the last bit of food to be found within the area… but I didn't want to think about that. The dog looked up at me happily. 'Just don't tell Nick okay? I said with a smile.

Nick… I really had to get back to him. The sun was setting behind the trees. The chance I found my way back already was small, but it would be even smaller if it got dark.

I bent over to pick up one of the full cans, but left the other one. That seemed fairer. I felt kind of bad for stealing like this. I couldn't stop thinking about how I would feel if these were my supplies getting stolen… I was too nice for this world…

When I looked at the dog it had its tail between its legs. For the brief time I'd spent with any dog I knew that wasn't a good sign. I faced the same direction as he did, and saw what frightened him.

A lurker had gotten stuck between the thorny bushes and tried crawling through to get to us.

'Don't worry boy.' I said, as the dog made an attempt to run off again. 'He's stuck; he won't be getting to us.

Normally I would have been more on edge when a lurker got so close without me realizing, but I was relieved it wasn't the owner of this camp back from their evening stroll.

The dog yelped behind me, but I got closer and took care of the lurker with one quick stab.

'See, we're fine.' The dog barked once happily. 'Shh quiet boy, we don't want to alert any others.'

I walked in the opposite direction of where the lurker had come from and crawled underneath the bushes. The dog followed. As soon as there was enough space the dog shook his head, and some leaves and thorns stuck in his fur came out.

I noticed it had taken the other can and thought about taking it from him but didn't. The dog had found the cans anyway, so who was I to take it? I let go of the thought I was stealing. With the good karma I'd obtained by feeding the dog the universe should condone us this one. I noticed I started feeling closer to the dog. Half a day ago I had kicked it because it had bitten Nick, and now I'd fed it. Was I starting to grow fond of it?

I shook my head. I couldn't forget it wasn't a person. He could get wild real easily

If you looked past the vicious mood swings it was really cute though... I smiled as I followed the dog with my eyes.

A cold breeze helped me snap out of it and I walked on. Around me it started getting darker and darker. Every shadow looked like a person, but I felt slightly safer having the dog with me, knowing it would alert me in someway if something dangerous approached us, it being purposely or not.

I started to panic, because the forest only got less thick. If I was on the right track it should thicken instead of the opposite, the beach lay behind the thick layer of forest… right?

I grew more tired every step I took. Where was the lake…?

Tears stung in my eyes. I wanted to be strong, but I knew full well that if I wouldn't find back the cabin Nick was in trouble.

I reached for the key in my pocket. Not to mention I'd locked him in. for him there was no way out of the cabin. I should have thought it through! I hit myself in the head. I couldn't help but see Nick in that armchair starving to death while I was out losing my way and creating distance between him and me.

I didn't recognize anything anymore and fell on my knees as I sobbed. Normally I wouldn't cry about something like this, I needed a clear head. But the cold, the hunger and lack of sleep weren't exactly helping.

The dog was still a few steps behind me. When it heard me cry he carefully approached me. If I hadn't been crying I would have laughed because of the irony of the fact he was the one carefully approaching me now.

He dropped the can and I flinched when he softly nudged me. His wet cold nose tickled in my neck and I jumped up. Alarmed because of my reaction the dog stepped back. It was still really skittish, but it almost seemed as if it had slightly opened up to me. At least I hoped it had, I was in desperate need of a friend right that moment, even if he was just a dog.

'It's hopeless…' I sobbed. 'How am I ever going to find my way back?'

Suddenly the dog dashed off without any warning. So far the feeling it had slightly opened up to me. I felt lonelier then ever.

I wanted to ask it to wait for me, but why did I even really care?

I shrugged sadly and let it run. When it had run a few meters though, it turned around as if waiting for me.

I frowned and picked up the pace. Every time I got a bit closer it ran ahead a few meters until it suddenly took a turn and disappeared behind the bushes.

I pushed the plants out of my way and had to resist the urge to hug the dog that proudly walked through the sand of the beach with the can in its mouth.

I laughed. 'You did it, you brought us back!' I cried out happily. I walked towards the dog and petted it without thinking. It didn't seem all too happy I did, but it couldn't try biting me because of the can in its mouth, so he just slightly recoiled when my hand touched his rough black fur.

I saw the cabin standing on top of the hill and ran towards it.

It was dark, so I couldn't really see where I was going. I just kept running near the building.

If there had been light, I would have noticed the fact there was another pair of footsteps leading towards the cabin, a fresh pair that hadn't been there when I'd left.

The door was ajar, and I was so relieved to be able to get to Nick again I didn't notice it wasn't even supposed to be open.

Behind me the dog barked. It sounded like the sort of bark he made when the lurker had attacked us, but I paid no attention to it.

I barged into the cabin, but had no time to look around. I had to duck, because someone lashed out to hit me in the head with a broken bottle…


	30. Intruder?

**Intruder?**

I screamed out of surprise and fell on the floor when I saw the sharp broken bottle get near. It all happened within a second, the glass bottle hit the wall, I closed my eyes shut and it rained tiny glass shards. They got stuck in my hair.

'Oh my god! Cammie!' Nick bent over and held out his hand. I looked up at him and grabbed it. He pulled me up, but I noticed him making a pained noise because of one of his injuries.

He still wasn't wearing a shirt. Despite the fact it wasn't cold in the cabin he had goosebumps all over his arms, and he still had a pale face full of bruises. Was I imagining it, or did his eyes seem a little bit more lively though?

'Nick, what the fuck?' I asked angrily as I resisted the urge to punch his chest.

'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Cammie!' he pulled me against his cold chest and I could feel the blood rise to my cheeks. I had never hugged a shirtless guy like that before.

Nick didn't seem bothered by it though. I carefully wrapped my arms around him and forced myself to stay calm.

'I-it's fine...' I mumbled when he dropped his arms. 'I shouldn't have barged in like that, its just that I-'

I heard a bark behind me.

'Look out!' Nick yelled as he rushed froward to slam the door shut.

'Nick wait!' I said right after he closed the door with a loud bang.

'Wait? wait what? That fucking beast is back... I don't plan to get eaten by anything, no lurkers, no dogs.' Nick whispered that last thing as he limped near the window. It was barred almost completely, but Nick squeezed his eyes and peeked through a crack.

'Thats the thing, I don't think it ever wanted to eat us.'

'Did I miss somethin'?' Nick asked without turning around.

'I got lost, that dog is the one that got me back!'

Nick now did turn, and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

'Without him, I would have still been wandering through the woods in the dark, no doubt.' I continued.

'Well fine, but we ain't letting it in.' he mumbled as he stared down at the floor.

'Yeah yeah...' I responded.

Nick shivered and that reminded me of the fact he wasn't helping his immune system fight a possible infection by standing here in the cold. I walked over to him, pulled him towards the red chair, carefully pushed him in it and tucked him in with the remaining rags of the blankets.

When I made sure the improvised blanket covered him, I walked over to the table and took the can I'd found in the woods out of my pocket.

'I was worried.' I heard Nick saying from the other end of the room. 'Why didn't you wait for me to wake up before going of on some adventure?' I noticed the accusing sarcasm , but decided to ignore it.

'I just went out to get some wood, I needed a way to get you warm.' I defended myself. 'And besides, I left you a note!'

'All I know is that when I woke up, the door was wide open, and you were nowhere to be seen.' he said with a sigh.

My hands ran over the desk as I shoved things aside looking for the note. I couldn't find it. I bent over to check underneath the desk, perhaps the wind had blown it off... but there was nothing underneath the it either.

'You're right...' I mumbled. 'But... how is that possible? I know I locked you in.' i said, more to myself than him.

It was nowhere to be seen, but then I realized the door had been open. I knew for sure I had locked it.

Panic fluttered up in my stomach. Had someone been inside? How, when, why?

'Have you seen anyone besides me get in or out?' I asked him as I looked around half expecting someone to jump out of the closet.

'Wouldn't I tell you if I had?' he responded.

I shrugged.

I got out my dagger to open the can of beans, walked over to him with the opened can and sat down next to Nick on the floor. His eyes widened when he saw the can.

'Where did you find this?' he asked when he took it from me.

'In the woods...' I answered vaguely as I yawned. I suddenly felt very tired, too tired to tell him everything. I liked just being in his presence, just hearing him breathing steadily was enough to calm my nerves. The fire still smoldered faintly, and the soft glow almost hypnotized me. I first needed sleep, we could think about all our issues tomorrow morning.

Nick ate greedily, and placed the can on the ground again. I slowly looked over at it and saw he had left me the other half. 'You can have it.' i said as i tried to give it back to him.

He shook his head. 'You need to eat just as much as I do.'

If I hadn't been so hungry I would have refused, but I felt so weak I couldn't even find the strength to argue with him anymore.

I ate quietly, and we sat next to each other in silence. I started dozing of. It wasn't a surprise, I hadn't slept for days. Every few minutes I woke up because of my head rolling to the side.

'Maybe I did see something...' Nick suddenly interrupted the silence. His voice caused me to raise my head.

'What?' I asked as I yawned again.

'I wasn't fully awake...' Nick began, 'I heard something outside, it woke me up. I think I heard the door swing open or something...' He frowned as it all seemed to come back to him. 'I saw... I think I saw someone standing over there...' he raised his arm and pointed over at the table. 'They couldn't see me because I sat in the armchair. I must have felt so weak I passed out again. Next thing I know, I wake up because of the cold, you're nowhere to be found, and the door is wide open.

I suddenly felt more awake, we weren't safe here at all, some creep had somehow entered the cabin. My eyes widened.

I don't know...' Nick mumbled reassuringly when he saw the frightened look in my eyes. 'I was probably seeing stuff because of the blood loss or something.'

'I know I locked that door.' I mumbled. 'It can't just have opened itself. I forced myself up and walked towards the door.

'What are you doin'?' Nick asked.

'Trying to see how anyone could have gotten in.' I answered as I took my dagger out just in case, and carefully opened the door.

A cold breeze helped me get more alert.

The woods were pitchblack. I thanked God I had found my way back, otherwise I'd still be wandering around in the dark. Though thanking Gd felt lame, I should be thanking the dog instead.

Speaking of the devil, when I looked to my right I almost got a heart attack. The big yellow eyes looked up at me. I smiled. The poor dog had been waiting here all the time... I was surprised it hadn't fled back into the woods again.

I bent over to check the door. It was still really dark, but when I ran my fingers along the wood around the lock I could feel dents and scuff marks. When I looked closely, I noticed a pin sticking out of the lock.

Shit!

Nick had been right, someone had broken into the cabin while I'd been gone. I couldn't believe I had left Nick alone like that, I felt so stupid!

'You okay Cammie?' Nick called out.

I suddenly didn't quite feel comfortable making too much noise outside, and I quickly stepped inside again.

The dog looked up at me and tilted its head. It didn't feel good to shut him out like that, but he didn't make any attempt to step inside with me, instead he let his ears fall back against his head when Nick spoke. I shrugged and closed the door.

'Nick... I think it wasn't the blood loss...' I whispered.

'What do you mean?' he asked casually, but I could hear a slight hint of anxiety in his voice.

'The lock has been picked-'

'Fuck...'

'with a pin.' I finished my sentence. 'And they took my note.' why would they though... 'How can we spend the night here when we know there's some creep sneaking around?' I asked the ceiling.

Nick chuckled a little. 'There have been creeps sneaking around for years now Cam.'

I noticed he called me by a nickname. I couldn't remember him having done that before, and a smile crept on my face.

He got up. I wanted to tell him to sit down again, to take it easy. But he limped past me towards the closet.

'Come help me.' he said as he started pushing the heavy piece of furniture.

I noticed what he was trying to do, and went over to help him. It took us a few minutes, but eventually we managed to block the door with the closet from the inside.

'There,' Nick said as he bent over to catch his breath. 'No one's getting through like that.'

I couldn't help but stare at the nasty cut and the hasty patch job that ran along his stomach. When he caught me staring he smiled and stood up straight. 'I'm fine.' he said.

'I know.' I lied.

Nick walked back to the chair and coughed. 'Man I'm thirsty!' He mumbled as he sat down. I walked towards the closet and opened it.

'Couldn't you have said so before we pushed this heavy thing in front of our access to the water?' I asked sarcastically as I rolled my eyes.

I took a brown coat from the clothes and threw it towards Nick. It fell on top of his head.

'Hey!' He laughed as he pulled it off to look at.

'Put it on, it'll keep you warm.' I told him.

'Thanks.' I heard him say as he willingly followed my advise.

He still seemed weak, his every move seemed to hurt him in some way, and he did everything in a slow pace. But he didn't appear to be as weak as a day ago.

I helped Nick into the chair again and sat down on the ground next to him. Leaning my head against the side of the chair I closed my eyes. I felt incredibly tired.

My heart skipped a beat when I felt Nick carefully stroking my hair. It felt nice, but my hair hadn't been brushes in quite a while. It was probably full of twigs and dirt. The last time I'd had a shower had been a few days ago in the cabin, but I had rolled around in the dirt a lot since.

'Ow!' Nick abruptly pulled back his hand.

I looked up at him and saw him pulling a glass splinter out of his hand. Carefully I ran my fingers through my hair and I felt more glass in it.

"I think thats from that bottle...' I said as I shifted my gaze over to the fire. I wanted to get up and light it again, since it didn't look like it would burn for much longer, but Nick grabbed my wrist.

'Let me get that out of your hair.' he said.

I looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

He blushes. 'It's me who got it in your hair after all...' he mumbled.

When I said nothing he frowned. 'Well whatever, if you don't want me to I'll-'

'No no, go ahead.' I interupted.

I sat down and tried to ignore the awkwardness of the situation, but noticed that after a while I got more relaxed.

Nick's fingers carefully ran through my hair as he picked out the tiny pieces of glass.

'Tomorrow we'll go find Luke and the rest.' he decided. '...If they all made it...' he squeezed his eyes.

'Ugh Luke...' I mumbled without bothering to conceal the annoyance in my voice.

'What have you got against Luke?' Nick asked.

'In case you forgot, last time I saw him we didn't exactly have a fun conversation.' I mumbled thinking back at how his appearance had caused me to end up alone in the mud. 'And besides, you're too weak to be dong anything yet.'

He didn't respond.

I think that was it.' he suddenly said as nodded at the glass he had collected in his cupped hand.

He tried to get out of the armchair. I wanted to get up to support him, but Nick already limped toward the desk.

He dropped the glass onto the desk and picked up the remains of the other broken whiskey bottle that still stood on top of it. From the looks of it there was still some whiske left.

He held it up with a questioning look. When I shook my head he shrugged and brought the broken bottle closer to his mouth.

'I don't think you should-' I started, but Nick was already drinking what was left of the whiskey. He laughed.

'What?' I asked, I had trouble seeing the fun side of the situation.

'I just realized this is like the third time we end up stuck in a small room together.'

'Also there is often booze.' I added sarcastically.

'Yeah that too.' he laughed again louder.

'As long as it's you, I don't mind...' I mumbled without really thinking about it. As soon as I realized what I'd said I blushed and stared down at the floor.

Nick smiled. 'Me neither.'

I turned my head to look at him and lost myself in his bright blue eyes.

* * *

**Hey guys,**

**It's been a while ;)**

**I had some issues with my computer so I couldn't update for a while, but that's getting fixed. For now I have to write with a different program though, so this chapter may contain more mistakes than previous ones, sorry..**

**I wasn't quite happy with this chapter, I found it a little boring. But at least Nick and Cammie had some peace... shit will hit the fan soon...**

**Leave a review if you liked it, I love reading what you guys think! **


	31. Feeling Safe

**Sorry guys,  
busy life so a bit of a short chapter this time. It's gonna get interesting again soon enough though ;)  
Hope you'll enjoy!**

* * *

**Feeling Safe**

That night was the first night in a long time I dreamt again. Although you couldn't really call them dreams. No one in the apocalypse had dreams anymore, they were all nightmares.

Even though I was tired, my sleep was light and I found myself waking up and doozing off multiple times. The night wouldn't end. Everytime I woke up it was just as dark out.

Nick was still sleeping in that old red chair, one arm hanging down from the side. His even breathing was the only thing that could bring me back to sleep.

I couldn't stop dreaming. Everytime I closed my eyes I saw all the people I had lost gettting devoured or shot or stabbed or plainly giving up. I had to watch all of it over and over again, I couldn't look away, couldn't stop them from ending their life. I could only watch the horros reapeat themselves rigt before my eyes.

I drifted away, but I didn't want to sleep. I fought against the darkness that tried to drag me down until I just didn't have the strenght anymore...

* * *

_...Until finally, all the dead lied down. _

_Nick walked up to me. His blue eyes more serious than I had ever seen them before. When I looked down at my hand I saw I had my fingers clenched around a gun. It was heavy in my hand, but I couldn't force my fist to open._

_My mother appeared from behind me and pointed at Nick. _

_'Finish it!' _

_Confused I looked up at her. She looked as if she hadn't been living in the apocalypse the past couple of years, she seemed well fed, her clothes clean and yet... the dark circles underneath her eyes were just as they had been the last time she had looked at me._

_'Cammie, listen to me! Do as I say and shoot him!' her voice broke and sounded far away, as if she was on the other side of the open field full of bodies, screaming at me._

_I shook my head. _

_My mother walked towards Nick and kept pointing at him. _

_Nick didn't stop looking at me, but the longer I looked the whiter his eyes got, until eventually all the blue had dissapeared. His skin started to rot, Blood dripped out of his mouth and his once so lively eyes let go of mine as he grabbed my mother's wrist, pulled her close and ripped her appart. _

_'No!' I cried and I raised my arm. _

_The gun was pointed directly at Nick. All I had to do was pull the trigger. But I couldn't. The way he moved, how his messy hair waved in a breeze I couldn't feel... I didn't want to kill him. He was all I had left. _

_Nick let go of her, and my mother fell in the grass. _

_He left here there, as if she suddenly bored him. His dead eyes locked on me and he limped near. I wanted to run, but my body wouldn't obey me. I stood there and could only wait while death kept closing in on me. _

_I took a breath and closed my eyes. Tears flowed down my cheeks. With pain in my heart I pulled the trigger._

* * *

A loud bang shook me awake. I was sleepy and confused and when I touched my face I noticed I had cried in my sleep. I didn't even know that was possible.

Another bang. Was it comming from the door? Someone was trying to open it from the other side! When they had, it had slammed against the closet Nick and I had used to barricade the door.

I looked over to the chair. It was dark in the room, but I could just make out Nick's contours. He was still asleep.

Maybe I had dreamed it...

The wind outside roared and the rain slammed against the windows in waves. It was then I noticed how cold it was. The fire had died a few hours ago. with a sigh I got up, stretched my back and picked up some of the glasshards and paper from the floor. I figured there was still some alcohol on them that would help get a fire going.

When I brought my firestones close and tried to ignite the fire I heard a bark outside.

I turned my head towards the general direction of the sound and my fuzzy mind was confused for a second, but then I remembered the dog. Was it still outside the cabin?

Guilt boiled up inside of me. It was terribly cold, fur or not. I frowned and walked towards the door. I opened it for as far as it would go until the closet stopped it, and tried to look outside.

The wind and rain hit me in my face and I had to squeeze my eyes to make anything out. When I did, I had to resist the urge to slam the door shut immediately.

Someone was standing there, a few meters away from the door. My breath got stuck in my throat. I regocnised that tall gangling figure from somewhere, yet I couldn't quite determine from where, it was too dark out.

The person wasn't facing the cabin by the looks of it, but was staring at something in the distance I couldn't see.

Another bark, and he ran of, towards the edge of the forest. Just before he dissapeared behind the trees he turned around, and I could have sworn his eyes met mine for a second.

Then he vanished into the darkness, and nothing but the footsteps he had undoubtetly left in the sand remained to indicate he had ever been there.

Rain kept blowing in my face, and I could feel it dripping down my neck into my shirt. It didn't bother me much, but I knew it wasn't smart to keep standing in the cold like that. These times catching a cold could mean your death.

My tired eyes scanned the perimeter for any movement.

Even though I couldn't see them, the lurkers crawled around in the forest like bugs under a moist rock. The realisation of that fact still scared me after all these years.

The dog was an invisible ghost in the night, he was impossible to see, so I almost got a heartattack when I suddenly realised it came running towards the cabin.

He had scared the stranger off. I didn't quite know why, but I held out my hand through the creek of the door. The dog recoiled slightly, but when I kept my hand there it briefly, carefully nudged me with it's cold nose.

'Cammie?' Nick's sleepy voice sonded from inside.

I turned my head.

'What are you doing?' he asked as got up and limped towards the door.

I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my cheek against his still warm chest.

He hesitated, but answered my embrace. Goosebumps ran up and down my arms when he ran along my back with his hand.

We stood in such way that I could still look through the ajar door. I didn't really want to, but after a minute I left Nick's safe arms. And went over to the door to close it.

The moon was not visible because of the dark rainclouds, yet some light shone through the creek. It lighted just the area where Nick stood and cloaked him in a silver light. I stood paralyzed as I looked at those familiar features of his face. His stubbles, the clear blue eyes that always betrayed how he felt and his messy black hair that felt so soft... He still made my heart race the way he had when he first caught me with his gaze.

I couldn't believe how you could love a person this much. It was dangerous.

'I was just...' I looked outside again, the dog had dissapeared. I didn't want to worry Nick, so I shook my head. 'I needed some air, thats all.'


	32. In A Tight Spot

**In A Tight Spot**

'Are you sure?' I asked once more as I looked at the watery sun. Thick clouds came rolling in from the north. Soon enough the sun wouldn't be this visible anymore and I cherished the moments I still had with it, as if it was an old friend. I shook my head when I noticed how dull and poetic I was getting, sighed and looked down at the sand.

After tonight's storm there wasn't anything left to proof I hadn't dreamt the whole scene of the stranger outside the cabin, so I shrugged it off thinking I had been too tired to think straight. If there really had been something it must have been a lurker. After all, the herd wasn't that far away. The loud storm had probably confused them causing the herd to spread out more.

'Yeah.' Nick responded for the fifth time this morning.

He startled me, as I had forgotten I had asked him a question. After almost a full night sleep I was still tired. It was almost as if sleep only made me realize how tired I actually was.

'If we don't regroup with the rest now, we'll never find them.' Nick continued, as he looked sideways. He frowned. 'You seem out of it, are you sure it's not just me that's making you want to rest up?'

'What? No!' I said. 'I'm just a little sleepy, that's all...' I mumbled, although I did have second thoughts about meeting up with Nick's friends.

Teaming up with Luke again sounded less than appealing to me, but I had to admit strength was in numbers. Especially during cold winter storms an extra pair of eyes could save your life.

'Who's to say they haven't moved on already...' I asked Nick quietly, almost afraid of his reaction. But I was quite certain he hadn't heard me.

'And besides,' Nick continued as he clung to the door so he wouldn't have to lean on his ankle, 'you're the one who said this cabin wasn't safe anymore.'

I didn't respond, but instead stared at the lake in front of us. Nick's shirt had apparently washed away during last night's storm. He'd have to travel in the ugly brown coat from now on. I didn't want to think it, but it looked just like the coat Carver had been wearing.

'C'mon.' I said, 'Let's move it.'

As if I had blown a dog whistle, my furry friend came running from behind the cabin. He seemed to have decided he was going with us. He stopped however, when he saw Nick standing next to me. For a moment he seemed to hesitate, but then he carefully approached us.

'You know what I think?' I said, and without waiting for an answer I continued, 'I think he didn't like you before...'

'Didn't like me? He almost bit my foot off!' Nick interrupted me, as he glared at the dog.

'I think he almost bit your foot off before,' I corrected myself, 'Because of the way you smelled. I mean think about it, He could only smell lurker guts, and you were limping. From a distance you made a pretty convincing lurker.'

'Then why didn't he attack you as well?' Nick asked, 'You smelled as shitty as I did.'

I raised an eyebrow.

'No offense or anything...' he shrugged and almost lost his balance.

'I...' I frowned as I tried to come up with a logical explanation. 'I had washed myself in the lake while cleaning your wound…' I mumbled though not entirely satisfied with my own answer.

'I guess you might be right...' he gave the dog one more look. 'As long as he won't get dangerous it can stay for all I care, don't seem like we can make him go away without killin' him anyway.'

I smiled. 'Alright boy, welcome to the team!'

He wagged his tail confused, and I briefly ran my hand along his back. Its shoulders tensed, and he backed away. His reaction didn't discourage me though.

'C'mon.' Nick sighed.

I walked towards him and wrapped a supporting arm around his waist, rubbed my eyes and yawned. I had a feeling this was going to be a tiring day...

With Nick being crippled, we traveled slowly. Nick said he was sure we were traveling in the right direction, but I knew how confusing this forest was, and I didn't quite trust it.

'I need a minute.' He mumbled almost desperately after about 15 minutes of slow walking.

I helped him sit down against a tall tree. When he sat I looked around where we were.

The dog was digging around a bush, when I approached it he looked up at me. I pushed the bush aside and noticed there was a sign pointing out the direction of a trailer camp.

'We're getting closer to the civilization.' I said as I tried to find something like a path. Nature had overgrown whatever had once been here completely.

'I don't think we'll find anything but lurkers there, but we're getting closer to the historical museum and we were suppose to meet up with the rest in that area.' Nick answered.

When I turned around to look at him I noticed he had his eyes closed. He looked so peaceful sitting there, the sun shining on his face...

I shook my head. _Focus Cammie!_

'We should give him a name.' I said as I shifted my gaze over to the dog that was wandering around.

'Whatever...' Nick mumbled. He seemed to be in a lot of pain even though his injuries were healing. Traveling like this had to be tiring.

'I vote...' I mumbled as I tried coming up with something, 'Carl.' I decided as I laughed.

Nick slowly opened his eyes. 'Carl, why Carl?' his humorless tone made me a little sad. This wasn't the Nick he usually was.

'I don't know... he just looks like a Carl to me.' I said.

'Looks like a wolf to me...' Nick said without smiling as he followed the dog with his eyes.

'yeah I guess... Wolf... that sounds kinda cool. I know, let's call him Wolfy!' I didn't know why I was so cheerful, I certainly didn't feel that happy... perhaps I was subconsciously trying to cheer up Nick.

'Kinda cliché don't you think?' Nick mumbled, but he was now smiling as well.

'I don't care...' I laughed. 'Wolfy it is! Come here Wolfy, come here!' I said with a highpitched voice as I bended over.

Wolfy turned around and looked at me sheepishly. He sat down and stared at me as he tilted his head.

'Be quiet.' Nick mumbled.

'S-sorry...' I mumbled a bit insulted.

'I just don't want to attract any dead.' he said as he tried standing up. I walked over to help him, but he pushed my arms away. 'I'm fine.' he mumbled without looking at me.

Was he angry with me or something?

'C'mon Wolfy, let's go.' I said as I brushed my hair out of my face.

The clouds were too thick for the sun to burst through now, so we walked through a depressing forest. Now and then some water dripped from the leaves on my head and it kept startling me. Nick no longer needed support, or so he claimed, but that didn't speed things up and I had to wait for him every couple of minutes.

As we walked I started to notice the tense atmosphere between Nick and me. He rarely talked, and when I ask him a question his answers were short. Those injuries must really bother him. At least I hoped it was that.

After a while I became aware of the silence around me, and that made me notice the sounds we made. The twigs and leaves snapping underneath our feet as we walked, Wolfy who stumbled in and out of the bushes and Nick who sometimes couldn't help but groan while he walked.

If only we had some medicine... some painkillers would already be a great help.

Suddenly a loud scream interrupted the silence. It made my blood run cold. It sounded close and yet as quickly as it had come it stopped. I turned around to look at Nick who had managed to go even paler than before.

'S-Sarah?' He whispered in disbelieve.

I frowned. 'What are you-' I stopped in the middle of my question when Nick rushed past me.

'Nick, please you can't put too much weight on your ankle!' I yelled after him right before a tree blocked my view of him.

I didn't hesitate for another second and ran after him. He wasn't too hard to catch up with, I saw him stumble through the bushes right in front of me. Wolfy quietly ran alongside me.

Branches scratched my cheeks as I ran past and I almost stumbled over a large rock on the side of the path.

I bend over to catch my breath when I found myself at the edge of the woods. When I looked up I realized we had found the trailer park, or rather what was left of it. Wooden planks had been used to board up the entrance. It looked like a hasty fortification job.

'Cammie!' Nick yelled. I turned to see him lying on the ground. He was pressing his hands against his ankle and couldn't seem to get up. He was pointing at something I couldn't see from where I was standing. When I walked around a large tree I saw what Nick had been so frightened of.

A lurker was trying to get hold of a girl who, as soon as she saw me and started screaming her lungs out. She was covered in blood and throwing her arms around in a desperate attempt to keep the lurker from grabbing her.

I ran over to help her, but when I did she shielded her face with one arm as if afraid I was a lurker as well.

That brief slip of her defense caused the lurker to get hold of her, and the girl fell over. The lurker fell on top of her and her continues screams fell silent.

I ran over to her to help and tried to pull it of her.

'Cammie, look out! Behind you!' Nick said in a loud voice. Stumbling from the woods came another lurker, he came straight for me as if he couldn't even see Nick.

There wasn't enough time for me to run around it, the lurker had closed in on me and I was stuck between the one attacking this supposed Sarah and the other.

I did something I had taught myself a while ago. I threw myself on the ground and made some sort of pathetic slide around the lurker just as it was dashing for me.

My sudden drop caused it to fall over instead of landing on me, and it's face landed inches from mine. I hated how I always ended up on the ground while fighting with lurkers, one way or another. At least now I had the advantage of being able to get up faster.

I rolled back a bit and threw my weight forward. In one fluent move I stood on my feet again and I didn't hesitate to take out my dagger and stab the lurker on the ground that was already trying to grab me and get me on the ground again.

The lurker on top of Sarah somehow hadn't managed to chomp her yet, but she seemed to be getting tired of fighting it of.

I viciously pulled the lurker away from her and it landed on its back. When I heard noises behind me I turned my head to see if it wasn't another lurker drawn by the commotion, but it was Nick trying to get up to help me.

I shouldn't have looked away, The lurker got hold of my ankle and bit me, my heart skipped a beat as I could feel his jaws chewing the fabric of my shoe. Luckily the leather was too strong for it's rotten teeth to get through, and out of reflexes I pulled my foot away, but fell over again because of the sudden move.

My head banged hard against the ground and my vision got blurry, I could see the corpse trying to get up while I waited for my sight to get clear again. Something orange limped out of the bushes and with a tired battle cry, Luke stabbed the lurker. It's flailing arms fell to the ground.

I saw yet another one stumbling from the woods behind Luke. My head hurt so bad I couldn't even form a decent sentence. 'B-Behind... Look!' I stuttered.

Luckily Luke got the hint and turned around in time. He got rid of it and held out his hand for me to grab. He grimaced while he pulled me up. I couldn't imagine I was that heavy, Luke seemed injured.

Nick was getting over to Sarah who had lost her glasses and was trying to calm her, but Sarah wouldn't stop mowing her arms around, she crawled away until she got up again, and ran away alongside the barrier from the trailer park.

'Shit!' Luke cursed behind me, and without saying anything to us he ran after her. 'Sarah get back, please!' He desperately yelled after her.

I noticed there was something wrong with the way he was running. His machete was in one hand he had his other arm wrapped around his waist as if he was stopping a wound from bleeding or something.

It couldn't be… was he bit? I didn't even want to think about what that would do to Nick.

'We gotta follow them!' Nick said, not bothering to hide the hint of panic in his voice.

'NO!' I immediately responded. Nick glared at me, it startled me, I had never seen him so angry before, well, not with me that is.

'For all we know there's a dozen lurkers in there, if we get trapped we're done for!' I tried to explain, but Nick had managed to get up.

I stopped in front of him and held my arms out trying to block his path, but Nick pushed me out of the way.

'We have to help them, Luke's my friend!' He said angrily. 'If you don't wanna come, fine but you're not stopping me!'

I was speechless for a second, and my head was pounding in the same rhythm of my heartbeat because of that knock to the ground earlier.

Before I knew it, Nick was a few meters away. Wolfy seemed to have fled when the lurkers got in the picture, because he wasn't anywhere to be seen. So far a dog's loyalty.

I hurried after Nick. 'Fine,' I said as I wrapped an arm around him to help him move faster. 'Let's hurry!'

It took us nothing more than a few seconds to notice a large gaping hole in the fence. I was starting to think the chances of the presence of any living being in the trailer park apart from us were around zero.

I let go of Nick and jumped through the hole with ease, Nick however seemed to be struggling, but when I went over to help he got through.

We found ourselves at some sort of playground. In the distance I could just see Luke run around a corner. There were a few lurkers on the terrain, but it wasn't as bad as I had expected.

We walked towards a wooden fence and I jumped over. Nick made an attempt to do the same, but failed miserably and I couldn't help but crack a little smile.

'Let me check if there aren't any surprises around the corner real quick, then I'll come help you.' I said.

'Nick seemed disappointed. 'It should be me doing these things, keeping you safe…'

'Don't go wanting to be a gentleman now, we got each other's back right?'

He nodded.

I wanted to be quick before I lost sight of Luke. If he went in one of the trailers we'd have to scoop the whole place out. And I didn't like surprises. As soon as I thought that however I walked around a corner a little too carefree and bumped into a tall figure.

The lurker grunted, and stumbled a bit before turning around and grabbing my arm. I tried to pull myself free and the usual panic I felt when a lurker held me in some way rose up in my stomach. My dagger's hilt hung on the right side of my body, but the lurker held my right arm.

I tried to pull myself free, but the hands of the corps didn't seem as rotten they usually were. The fresher the lurker, the better their bodies functioned. He wasn't going to let go.

With my left hand I reached for my dagger an sliced the lurker's head.

I wasn't sure if that had been enough force to kill him, I had only sliced him open a little, red blood oozed out of his head and he fell over.

I wanted to stab him and finish it, but I heard Nick scream. He was closed in with the wooden fence he couldn't jump over.

I ran back to help him. When I turned around the corner I saw several lurkers had crawled through the hole in the fence. They had targeted Nick and he stood helplessly with his back pressed against the fence.

Why had yesterday been so peaceful? Whenever we got a little peace things like this were sure to happen afterwards.

I made a run for it and jumped over the fence. In the best case scenario I would have done some sort of karate kick and hit off the head of the nearest lurker as I jumped, but sadly I didn't know any karate, so the jump was pathetic and I barely managed to not fall over.

A lurker dashed for me and I stepped aside. It fell and I heard the fence creek. It got me an idea.

'Let's do this the messy way!' I said as I kicked the fence multiple times till a part broke down.

Nick followed me and we made ran, because more and more lurkers came out of their holes to chase us.

I had worried about not being able to know where Luke had gone, but it wasn't difficult. Sarah's screams overruled any sound in the trailer park and I could point out where they were with my eyes closed.

One trailer in particular had been blocked of. The only way to get in would be through a couple of others.

'C'mon that way!' Nick yelled, he had figured it out as well.

We made a run for the nearest trailer and went in. Without thinking we just kept running, Nick was obviously in a lot of pain, but he kept going and going, even running past me to yank a door open. Eventually we found ourselves on the other side of the barrier.

'Luke!' I screamed as I pounded my fists on the door.

I turned around to see Nick bending over with closed eyes, he couldn't go on for much longer.

Footsteps neared to the door. I kicked it and screamed Luke's name once again.

Finally he opened it. When he did, I finally got a good look at his face. Wow, he looked like shit! He seemed incredibly tired, and he was still slightly bent over for some reason while hugging his waist with one arm.

He gave me an awkward brief nod and looked past me. "Nick!' he said as he saw how bad his friend was doing.

He got over to help him up, but I noticed Luke's injuries might be worse than Nick's. He barely got him up.

'Shit man, I thought you hadn't made it either…' Luke sighed.

'Guys…' I breathed, 'real cute, but can we continue this reunion inside?' I pointed art a couple of lurkers that had somehow gotten on our side of the barrier.

'Right… right…' Luke mumbled as he dragged himself and Nick inside the cabin. I walked in after him and locked the door.

'What happened to you?' I asked Luke when we all looked at each other waiting for someone to say something.

'I… it's nothin', just Carver's beatin' seems to have gotten me in worse shape than I thought.' He mumbled as he laughed a humorless laugh and stared at the floor. 'It's just… I chased Sarah for I don't know how long, eventually I got her to calm down but then…' he gulped. 'This morning, while we were makin' our way to the meeting place, she… we…'

'What happened?' Nick interrupted his stuttering.

'We saw Carlos.' He finished in a loud voice. When he spoke the name a loud heartbreaking sob came from another room.

'What do you…' Nick mumbled, but then his eyes widened.

'He came outta nowhere, just… jumped on top of Sarah. Of course she recognized him, and she… she just ran…'

'Fuck…' Nick breathed.

'I-I just don't know what to do with her, I can't get her to snap out of it anymore...' Luke said desperately, and then he looked at me.

'Hey don't ask me.' I said as I raised my arms gesturing I didn't have a clue on how to solve the situation.

A hand pounded on the glass and Sarah screamed again.

'Shit…' I mumbled. 'Nick, we gotta get out of here, they're closing in on us!'

Nick looked at me desperately, as if hoping I would come with a solution, or magically teleport the four of us away.

'If we get cornered… we're done for!' I said as I looked around for another way out. Apart from a window, there didn't seem to be any.

'If only we had… something like I don't know, a gun maybe, we'd be able to clear ourselves a way through, if only we were fast enough we could get some help.' Luke said as he brushed his brown hair out of his face. He looked sideways at me again.

Nick and Luke kept their eyes on me. It was really unnerving.

'Why does everyone keep looking at me?' I exclaimed as I ran my hands through my hair.  
Then I got what they wanted me to do, I was the only one fit to move, they wanted me to go get help.

'No!' I said as I violently shook my head. 'No way!' I couldn't lose Nick again.

'Neither of us are fit to move, it's gonna have to be you.' Luke added.

'I'm fine.' Nick said determined. 'I'm coming with her.'

'Nick, just look at yourself!' Luke exclaimed. 'You can't-'

'Leave me alone Luke!' He countered. 'I can decide things for myself.'

'If one of us doesn't make it, the other can still go look for help…' I tried. 'Otherwise you'd just be sitting here waiting for a rescue that never comes.'

'Are you kiddin' me?' Luke said as he glared at me. 'I don't know what your deal is, but it seems to me you're just tryin'a kill Nick!'

That guy had some nerve, I could feel my blood boiling. 'What the fuck are you talking about? I'm just saying-' my angry response got interrupted as another fist banged against the door.

'Guys, standin' here arguing ain't helpin' anyone…' Nick said.

'He… he's right though.' I said and I could feel myself cool off when Nick's eyes rested on me, silently begging us to stop arguing. I looked down at the ground unhappy to have to say it. 'You aren't fit to move, I can't push you through a bundle of lurkers and pray you'll come out whole.'

More noises outside made me jumpy, and itching to leave this tiny room.

'I'm coming with you, like it or not.' Nick said, to which Luke made a desperate sound and pressed his hands to his eyes. 'We have each other's back remember.' He smiled slightly.

'Real cute this guys, but Nick… fuck if you're serious you're gonna have to move.' Nick nodded, 'Like NOW!' Luke yelled as he pushed us towards the doors.

We stood in front of the door and I gulped. 'Ready?' I asked Nick. 'You're gonna have to run, no matter what you do, don't stop till you've found an exit.'

'Right.' Nick sighed as he looked down at his ankle.

'Are you sure?' I asked him, and it dawned me I had asked him that same thing this morning.

'Yeah.' He said as he caught me with his light eyes.

I turned around and looked at Luke who made fists with his hands.

'Stay put.' I said, and he nodded angrily, obviously annoyed because of the fact he couldn't do anything. Well, it was either that, or he hated me. Porbably a combination of both.

I yanked the door open and we dashed out.

* * *

**Hey guys, it's been a while! **

**So sorry for leaving any of you still sticking with me and Cammie waiting for so long, here's an extra long chapter to make up for it!  
I finally got my computer fixed so I'll probably be uploading more often from now on. :)**  
**For anyone who's a bit confused about the situation in the story: I was planning on getting Clem and Cammie's stories to collide a bit more, so I came up with antoher night instead of having the trailer park thing follow right after the herdwalking. So yeah, somehow Cammie and Nick beat Clem and Jane to the trailer Park, I hope that clarifies things a bit... ;)**

**Thanks so much for reading, see you next chapter!**


	33. Unexpected Help

**Unexpected Help**

Though having felt it so many times before, you never forget what it does to you. The adrenaline, the fear, facing death.

I caught a quick glimpse of the group of bodies in front of me. Their blood dripping jaws their rotting limbs, it was as if their last meal hadn't been too long ago.

There was no time to hesitate, Nick pushed me out the door of the trailer and we made a run for it, pushing limbs aside, trying not to realize one bite would end it all.

I had pushed myself through countless groups of lurkers before, but it never got any easier.

I got out my dagger and slashed my way through, taking out three of the fuckers as they tried to corner me. I didn't have the time to turn around and see how Nick was doing.

The fence where we got through couldn't be far now. It got difficult to orient yourself when you had a couple of dead chasing you.

'C'mon!' I screamed. My voice got lost in the sea of moans that echoed in between the empty trailer maze around us. The dark trees towered above my head, as the area got less dense.

There it was, the playground! I placed my arms on the wooden fence in front of me and kicked my legs over. Luckily lurkers sucked at climbing and I managed to lose some.

It didn't take long before I found where we'd gotten in.

In one fluent motion I jumped through the hole in the fence. There didn't seem to be any lurkers on this side. I turned to see how far behind Nick was.

He came stumbling around the corner, clutching his leg with one arm. The raw fear in his eyes was recognizable. He looked around until he found me, and he dashed for the hole.

Apparently the lurkers found Luke and Sarah back in the trailer more interesting than us, because just one lurker was following Nick. It was right in his wake though.

A bark behind me made me face the woods with my dagger ready.

Wolfy was hiding in the shadows, right behind me. Then I noticed why he was trying to warn me: a lurker came limping from behind the trees. I hadn't even heard it.

I moved quickly and circled behind it. Before the lurker could face me again, I cut it right in its neck. My dagger wouldn't cut through, so I had to kick the corpse to free the blade. As I did the force knocked it against the fence, giving me the opportunity to end it properly.

'Fuck!' Nick was desperately pushing himself through the poorly cut hole, but in vain. His sleeve had gotten tangled in the fence. The lurker behind him was just a meter away from him.

There was no other way through; I could only watch the death closing in on Nick.

In pure panic I bumped into the fence with my shoulder, hoping I could somehow knock it over. It was to no use. Though rusty, the fence stood sturdy. The lurker didn't pay any attention to my laughable attempt.

There was one more hole in the fence, barely large enough for my arm to fit through.

I did the last I could think of.

I pulled up my sleeve and pushed my arm through, the sharp edges of the fence cut in my arm, and dark red blood dripped down my elbow.

'Over here you fuck, come get me!'

'Cammie what the fuck are you doing?' Nick yelled as he tried to pull his arm free violently.

I wasn't exactly sure if I should have been thankful when the lurker did turn to face me.

With flailing arms he charged at the fence. The sudden speed surprised me, and I couldn't pull my arm out in time.

Ice-cold fingers locked themselves around my arm.

Suddenly something behind me grabbed me by my shoulders and jerked me back.

The sharp edges of the fence cut deep through the flesh of my wrist as my arm was freed.

Before I knew it, I was on the ground.

I could only realize one thing at a time while the chaos around me got even crazier. Blood, there was blood everywhere. It was on my shirt, on the ground, where was it coming from?

I got dizzy as I looked down and saw it was coming from the arm that had almost been lurker food. The bleeding wouldn't stop, I ran my other hand along the cut and it got dark red.

'Clem, get it of me!' a female voice screamed behind me. I turned around half to see a woman lying on the ground as well, Wolfy was on top of her, his lips curled up as he was growling and barking at her.

I noticed the girl in the corner of my eyes; she stood there with a hatchet raised in the air, ready to knock Wolfy off this woman, determination in her eyes.

'No!' I tried to yell as I raised one arm, reaching for her. The plead came out as a hoarse scream.

'Clem!' Nick yelled in surprise and relief from the fence, he was almost free, trying to pull himself away from the lurker, who had his rotten mouth stuck to the fence licking my blood of where it had cut me.

Clementine turned her head when she heard Nick speak. She seemed to struggle having to decide whom to save. Nick, or Jane.

She ran for Nick, apparently having decided he was in a tougher spot than Jane, but as she did Wolfy decided he didn't like it. He turned around and barked at her viciously.

It startled her and she backed away, clenching a hand around her lower arm. The earlier determination in her eyes made place for a fear so visible it seemed as though she thought her last minute had arrived. Who could blame her though, it might even be true.

The distraction gave the other woman enough time to kick Wolfy away. The poor dog landed on his back, yelped and ran of into the woods.

The lurker liked the commotion, and tried clawing its way through the fence, apparently having forgotten there was a free meal on his side, stuck in that very fence.

The woman took out a screwdriver; it fitted easily through the small holes in the mesh fence. She pushed it through the lurker's eyeball, and the corpse fell on the ground, his fingers still tangled in the fence.

I started getting dizzier. Great, I thought I had had that, but the blood loss problem was back.

The voices trailed away and I began losing consciousness.

'Clem, go help your friend!' I could vaguely hear the woman say right before she crouched down next to me. 'C'mon, stay with me!' she said as she slapped me hard across my face.

It helped clear my head for a second, but then I started drifting off again.

'Shit, she's bleeding!'

'Was she bit?' I could hear a higher pitched voice ask.

'Cammie!' a more familiar voice I could just label as Nick's, screamed desperately.

One of our unexpected saviors shook my shoulders, but I was so sick and tired of all those injuries, why couldn't life just go easy on us for once?

The darkness around me kept expanding, and drowsiness drugged me and took me away.

The voices kept panicking and screaming things, but they were nothing but background noises to me.

'…Apply pressure…'

'…Fuck we're losing her…'

'…Walkers!'

'…What do we do…?'

Everyting fell silent.

* * *

**Hey guys,**

**Sorry to keep you waiting so long for such a short chapter, the past couple of weeks have been busy... I'm hoping to be able to update more often for the time being though :)**

**_*Quick question*_, I worked in a scenario similar to the Telltale choices this chapter, and I'm real curious:  
****If the choice would have been in the game,  
Who would you have saved as Clem, Jane or Nick?  
This will have no effect on my story what so ever, but I'd love to know. Let me know in a comment or PM if you feel like it :D**

**One last thing for the people fighting through these boring author's notes, I realised this fanfiction is almost a year old, (maybe already a year if it takes me longer to upload this...) that's just awesome! I really love writing this, but I had no idea I could keep writing for this long.**** Thanks so much for the support, nice comments, ****private messages and the great feedback! It means so much to me to hear people like the story, every comment really makes my day!**

**See you next chapter :)**


	34. Gathering Everyone

**Gathering Everyone**

A throbbing in my head that gradually got stronger was what eventually caused me to gain consciousness. Slowly I became aware of my body, though I had no idea where I was. I wasn't exactly comfortable; my neck was twisted in an annoying position. I lay against something soft, warm, it was breathing. Something human.

I could vaguely hear muffled voices on the edge of my consciousness, but whenever I tried getting them into focus the headache got worse and I drifted off.  
Was I dead? Was this what dying felt like? I had asked myself that question countless times before. I hated not being able to tell the difference between dying and living.

Suddenly, as if some spark ignited a fire inside my head everything came back to me, and I kept drifting towards consciousness.

'Nick…' a female voice said hesitantly. She had a heavy southern accent.

'What?' a low voice replied angrily. I could feel his chest resonate as he spoke, how I loved the safe sound of that voice.

'I… I don't think you should be keepin' her… that close.'

'What do you know?!' he asked, and I could feel him lock his arms around me tighter, as if he was afraid they'd take me from him.

'Bonnie…' a tired voice interfered, 'don't bother.'

'But… what if…'

'She's not gonna turn, she's fine!' Nick said in a voice that killed any argument trying to prove otherwise.

Slowly my eyes quivered open, though the throbbing headache made me snuggle against Nick's chest even more.

'Cammie!' he squeezed me against him until I had to push him away a little because of a lack of oxygen.

Nick carefully helped me sit up. We were sitting on the edge of some fountain. I blinked against the sharp light burning through my half closed eyelids. There were a few people gathered around us.  
A black guy, he squeezed his eyes as if he had a hard time figuring out whether I was dead or not, a redheaded woman, and a pregnant lady, and when I say pregnant I mean real pregnant.

'Where…' I mumbled, but dizziness spun my head around before the unfinished question had even left my mouth.

'You're fine.' Nick said soothingly, while looking at the redheaded woman who I assumed was Bonnie, with a "told you so' smirk hiding behind his emotionless mask. 'After you fainted I carried you to the meeting point.' He explained.

I looked down at my wrist; the deep cut had been bandaged.

'Luckily I took some supplies with me when we left.' Bonnie said as she looked down at me and smiled lightly. 'It ain't much, but I stopped the bleeding for ya, now you'll just have to take it easy for a while.'

I nodded vaguely as I tried to get up, but I lost my strength half way, and Nick had to catch me.

'And by takin' it easy I meant don't do that.' Bonnie laughed.

We all looked up when the pregnant lady made a pained sound, groaned and bent over.  
'Rebecca!' Bonnie exclaimed as she rushed forward and supported her.

'Shit…' I whispered. 'Are you…?'

'I'm fine!' she snarled. 'I just need to sit down for a second.' She added in a tired voice.

I couldn't imagine how hard it had to be to carry another person around in times like these, why would you even consider that nowadays?_ I guess accidents happen._

'Sonuvabitch,'

We all looked up when the black guy walked away towards what had made him swear.

'You found 'em!' I could hear him say, and I bent over slightly so I could see what was going on.

Clementine, Jane, Luke and Sarah made their way to the fountain. It surprised me how glad I felt they had all made it. I didn't even know these people.  
'Yeah, I'm a little amazed myself, to tell you the truth.' Luke responded, as he walked past Mike. 'If it weren't for Clem and Jane, well… I don't know what would've happened.' His eyes met mine for a second. 'Jesus…' he mumbled before he looked away, so softly I could hardly tell whether he had actually said it or not.

_I must look like a ghost or something_, I thought, as I recalled Bonnie being afraid I was going to turn. I got up carefully and Nick tried to support me, but I gently pushed him away as I looked him in the eyes, trying to silently let him know I was fine. Though I knew I was not.

His black eye was still healing, in a few days the purple-ish bruise would turn yellow, the edges were already discoloring.

Bonnie helped Rebecca up. She held her hand out to Sarah and asked her something I couldn't hear. Sarah seemed odd somehow. She walked with her back slightly hanging to the side, and her eyes were wary behind her broken glasses.

Despite my silent protests Nick grabbed my elbow and guided me towards where the group stood.

As Rebecca held out her hand to supportively touch Sarah's arm she shrugged it off with a strange expression in her empty eyes. She was broken; I'd seen it so many times before.

Luke looked around, breathed in heavily, and sighed. 'Well, look at us.' His expression was just as beaten as his face. He too had bruises on the edges of his face.

He'd probably meant it metaphorically, but I still looked around the circle of people. Every single one of us looked like a mess. In the apocalypse no one ever looked healthy exactly, and it only got worse over time, but what I saw here was a group of injured, starving people. A group. _My group,_ it seemed. This was the exact shit I had promised myself to stay clear of, and yet here I was, amongst a group of survivors expecting me to have their back, to agree to what they had to say.

I was often scared of things, though lurkers seemed to have become a daily routine. This scared me differently.

_Is Nick really worth all this?_ I pushed the doubtful thought away. Of course he was. I loved him.

'Rebecca' I looked up as Luke addressed the pregnant lady. 'How are things going?' he asked, obviously trying to make it sound like a light question, though we all knew how drasticly she could turn the situation.

As Luke walked towards her, gently placing an arm around her, Bonnie started moving as well. She took Clem with her and walked away from us. As if she didn't want us to hear what they were discussing.

I immediately got suspicious, and looked away. I was just going to have to get used to things like this.

Nick wrapped his arm around my waist, either so I could support him, because of his injured foot, or to let me know he was there for me. Either way, it was a cute gesture I hadn't expected from the grumpy Nick and I smiled lightly.

In the corner of my eye I could see Clem walk towards one of the big white tents, scaring away a couple of crows as she did. My stomach grumbled a little I couldn't help but wonder if crow would taste like chicken.

I only noticed Bonnie approaching us when she stood right next to me. She was a few inches taller than me. She smiled down at me. I realized she really wanted me to like her, but it just seemed so forced.

'So, you're Cammie I heard?' she asked.

'Y-yeah.' I mumbled as I stared down at the dirt underneath my feet.

'Well, in case ya hadn't noticed, I'm Bonnie.'

'Right.' I said. I knew I was supposed to say something like "nice to meet you" but her overly positive attitude was already annoying me, or was it because of the killer headache eating away at me?

'So, I'm just gonna go out and ask it…' she said, I looked over to her, but she now had her gaze fixed at Rebecca who was talking to Luke over at the fountain. "I guess you quickly got the… situation.' She mumbled, her face suddenly a lot less fake-happy than it had been just a second ago. 'I…' she stopped and turned so she was facing me again. 'I'm getting desperate, non of us have any… you know, experience, with this sorta thing…'

I nodded carefully, wondering where this was going.

'I don't suppose you…'

I raised an eyebrow. 'Do I look it?' I asked sarcastically as I understood what she meant.

'Was worth a try…' she said as she grimaced. 'Nick…?'

Nick was already shaking his head. 'Not a chance.'

Bonnie sighed. 'Then that just leaves…' she looked over at the white tent.

Just as I was about to ask her who was in there, Rebecca screamed loudly. I feared the worst. A man with a wild beard and an eye patch walked out of the tent with Clementine in his wake. He looked like some sort of walker-pirate, when he eyed the group with angriness in his one eye that frightened me. I didn't like the sight of him. I slid closer to Nick without actually realizing I did.

'Oh shit, does that mean what I think it does?' Luke asked, the panic sounded through his voice and it chilled me to the bone.

I could feel Nick tense behind me.

We all looked over at Rebecca. Who just stared back at us, with raw fear shining in her eyes.


	35. Getting Ready

**Getting Ready**

We all watched in fear when Rebecca bent over, the pain readable on her face. She groaned and almost fell despite holding Bonnie's hand, or rather, pulverizing it. Luke was next to her in a split second to catch her right before she fell.

I held in my breath, and it was as if everyone froze. No one twitched a finger before she sighed heavily and dropped herself on the ground.

'I-its okay, I'm fine…' she managed to whisper while breathing heavily. 'It was… it was just a contraction.'

I gulped as Nick left my side to join Luke and help her up. She pushed their arms away though and buried her face in her hands as she leaned her back against the side of the dried up fountain.

Luke and Nick switched knowing looks that shone with desperation.

'It was a warning.' Jane suddenly said. She hadn't said anything in a while, and her clear voice startled me.

The others looked at her with questioning eyes.

'That baby is gonna be coming anytime now, and you guys are anything but ready for it.' She said as she exchanged looks with Clementine.

'She's right.' Luke said. 'We got maybe a couple of days, if not less. We're gonna need food, water, a safe and clean place…'

'And a lot of fuckin' luck…' I whispered. I doubted anyone had heard me. _What have I gotten myself into?_

Everyone stood there, helplessly. Waiting for someone to tell them what to do.

'Kenny?' Clementine asked.

The bearded man stood turned away from us, but seemed to snap out of his thoughts when she called on him. 'Alright, alright, gimme a second.'

'No way can Rebecca travel like this.' Luke pointed out.

'Hate to say it, but you're right.'

He was quiet for a couple of seconds. It was an ominous silence, one you couldn't just disturb.  
Rebecca however, seemed not to feel the same way. 'Kenny, you gotta focus…' She said pleadingly.

'Right, right, sorry. We can set up camp here, for now.' Kenny said without looking at anyone in particular. 'You guys go check the area for a better alternative.' He pointed at Bonnie and Mike. 'We're gonna need clean water for one thing, and blankets.'

'Got it.' Mike said. 'That map shows a couple of buildings nearby, maybe one of them could do the trick.'

'We gotta get outta this damn cold too…' Bonnie mumbled. She looked over at Mike. 'The museum, seems like it could be a good start. We'll see what we can find.'

'I'll check the building by the river.' Jane said without hesitation. And without waiting for an answer she walked off.

'Right,' Luke frowned and watched her back disappear behind a wall. 'and I'll be checkin' the perimeter for walkers.' he said as he scanned the tree line. He had somehow obtained a rifle, which he had hung around his shoulder. It made him look intimidating, despite his multiple injuries. 'Sarah?' he looked around until eyes stopped at Sarah who sat against a wall hugging her knees. 'You stay here with Rebecca and Kenny.' He told her with a soft voice.

She just looked at him, nothing in her face gave any indication she had understood, much less even heard he had talked to her, but Luke didn't seem to notice.

'Clem?' Bonnie said with worried eyes. As she gestured her to come closer.

Clementine walked up to her. Luke exchanged a look with Nick and gave me a brief nod before turning around to joining Bonnie and Clementine's conversation.

I was left there with Nick and Kenny.

Nick limped over to me and placed one hand on the side of my face. 'Its gonna be fine.'

I frowned. 'I know that.' I mumbled as I looked at the mud underneath my feet. But as soon as I'd said it I realized that was a lie.

Mostly because I wanted to know what was going on, but also because the glares I was getting from Kenny frightened me, I walked over to Luke, Bonnie and Clem. Nick soon followed.

'What do you mean by that?' Luke asked Bonnie, while he looked from her to Clementine.

'You know she doesn't like being around people much… And she volunteered to head off awful fast. I guess it could be nothing.' Bonnie said as she kept looking at the direction in which Jane had gone.

'I think Jane's just scared about the baby.' Clementine said quietly as se followed her gaze.

'Just something to think about.' Bonnie said. She now looked at me as if expecting me to say something to defend her suspicion.

'If she doesn't wanna stay, why make her?' I asked as I shrugged and looked away.

Luke's head jerked up and he looked at me with a look in his eyes I couldn't quite determine.

'Maybe I should go with Jane.' Clementine said nevertheless.

Luke shifted his gaze from me to her. 'Better hurry and catch up then.'

'I'd say you better stay here and rest while you an.' Bonnie said to me. 'I get the feeling we're gonna get busy pretty soon.' And with that she turned away and walked over to Mike who stood leaned against a wall waiting for her.

'All right everyone; you all know what to do. Let's be fast, and let's be careful.' Luke walked away from Nick and me.

He seemed like a leader, though I wasn't quite sure who was in charge here.

Bonnie and Mike left, and within seconds the historical war side was a lot less quiet.  
Sarah occasionally made a weird noise while she was rocking herself back and forth, still hugging her knees.  
Rebecca silently stared out into the distance with one hand absentmindedly stroking her belly.  
And Kenny sat close to her on the edge of the fountain glaring at a tree while carefully touching the edges of his eye patch.

'Nick, could you come help me? I could use an extra pair of eyes.' Luke asked as he nodded towards the tree line.

'Sure.' Nick responded. 'Cammie?' He held out his hand, but I shook my head. I felt wobbly on my legs because of the blood loss, and the dizziness had just settled. Didn't seem like a good idea to be checking tree lines. And I especially didn't feel like fighting with Luke over Nick again.

'Stay in sight.' I said with a weak smile. Nick nodded hesitantly and limped after his friend. His walk seemed faster than it had been, but he was from recovery.

With no one having told me anything useful to do I insecurely made my way back to the fountain.

'You fit to move?' I suddenly heard a rasp voice from behind me. It took me a second to realize Kenny was talking to me.

'I… I guess.' I answered as I grabbed my wrist to conceal the bandaged cut. I wasn't quite sure why.

'You don't look it.' He said as he rested one cold eye on me.

Normally I would have countered with something like: "probably because your eyesight is not what it used to be." Or "That's funny coming from you." But this guy creeped me out.

'I just lost a lot of blood, that's all.' I said as I lowered my gaze to the ground. I didn't like feeling intimidated, but its what he did to me.

'Listen, that little girl…'

'Clementine?' I interrupted as I looked up at him again. I was surprised to hear his cold tone had changed. He wasn't looking at me anymore now, rather the direction Clementine had just went. Was I catching a glimpse of fatherly concern here?

'Its just, I need… I need her to be safe.' He looked back at me with a determination in his eye, one I had seen shine in Nick's lately. 'I don't trust that… that Jane. It ain't no secret.' He said when I raised an eyebrow at the sudden confession. 'Not like I have any reason to trust you, but I'd feel a lot better if you could go check on them and see if-'

'If she isn't feeding her to the lurkers?' I asked with a hint of sarcasm, which I immediately regretted.

Kenny's face darkened. 'Can I trust you?'

I could feel my face heating up, and yet goose bumps crawled on my arms. I'd be incredibly stupid to say no to such a question. 'Of course.' I responded, hoping I could mimic some of that determination guys with protective instincts seemed to posses.

'Good. Go on now and I'll stay here with Rebecca.'

I nodded, feeling a lot better now that he'd turned his back to me. It was as if I had been holding my breath, and finally let go. I still felt dizzy, and I hoped Kenny wasn't looking at me when I followed Jane and Clem's path and staggered a little bit.

I asked myself yet again; _what have I gotten myself into?_


	36. The Supplied Stranger

**The Supplied Stranger**

Next to the observatory stood a couple of benches. Because the dizziness had set in once again, I didn't feel like it would be such a good idea to be climbing stairs, so I sat down for a second and sighed. It was cold. So cold in fact, I could see my breath coming out of my mouth in tiny clouds. I used to pretend I was a dragon when I was still a kid. How naïve I had been.

I examined my wrist and carefully touched the edges of the rag that had been wrapped around the wound. It wasn't bleeding anymore, but the once white fabric was soaked with a dark red bloodstain.

I put every event of the past couple of days straight so I could think again; it was one big mess up there. Nick and I had escaped the herd, Nick insisted on finding his stupid friends, and it had almost gotten the both of us killed. And what did we do instead of run away from this trouble the fast we could? We got ourselves into this mess even more.

There was a pebble laying close to my feet, I picked it up, placed it on the table, got out my dagger and began crushing it.

I thought about all the group members. There was that girl that had apparently saved my hide back at that trailer camp, Jane.  
Clementine, the little girl had been with her. Something told me I shouldn't be underestimating her despite her size. Those hardened eyes had seen shit, I was sure of it.  
Then there was Bonnie, who apparently had supplies and seemed like a stable personality compared to the rest of 'em.  
The muscular black guy that hadn't said much, but seemed like a good guy to have next to you in a fight, given he was loyal.  
That creep with the eye patch, Kenny, he just set off every alarm bell in my head, I'd have to stay away from him as much as possible. My great friend Luke, who seemed way too possessive over Nick…  
And last, but certainly not least: the pregnant lady Rebecca. She would be a lot of trouble. Who was so stupid they 'd have a baby during the apocalypse?

Breathing behind me made me jump up, just as my dagger pierced through the pebble. It was Wolfy, who carefully approached me from behind the trees. I had a stalker.

'Hey buddy…' I whispered, I wasn't quite sure why I whispered; perhaps I didn't want to alert Clementine and Jane who were up in the observatory? From the deck they didn't have a clear view of me.

Wolfy walked up to me and sat down cautiously. I carefully held out a hand. He recoiled slightly, but hesitantly allowed me to pet the filthy black fur on his head.

Nick and I were a team, right? I wanted to be with him, right? That was why I'd been through all this with him. But I didn't need this broken group of liabilities.

From the way Bonnie reacted when she suspected Jane had left, it didn't seem like they were keen on others leaving. Just what I needed, chains around my ankles, with Nick as the handsome prison guard making me not want to escape. I got warm when I thought of how Nick had stood there changing his shirt, the prospect of leaving the others to travel alone with him seemed like a fairy tale. If you could even call it a prospect, would I just have to wait until they all died, until one of us died? Until Luke convinced him I wasn't worth it? I looked down at my filthy clothes. I hadn't been self-conscious in a long while, but now that I thought about it, Bonnie and Jane were two women of around my age, be it a bit older. They both clearly had surviving skills; otherwise they wouldn't have made it this far… Was I actually worth it? The thought of Nick kissing Bonnie or Jane made me physically sick, and I clenched my fist full of Wolfy's fur. I really was acting like a lovesick teenage girl.

Wolfy growled softly, and I immediately let go of his fur. He didn't look at me though, nor did he stop growling.

'What is it buddy?' I whispered.

He stopped growling for a second, and I could hear a slight squeaking noise, it was like a rusty swing set that hadn't been oiled, playing in the wind. The sound wasn't consistent though: it stopped for a second, and then continued. Because it was being carried by the wind, I couldn't quite determine where it was coming from, but Wolfy's ears were up sharp, and he looked straight at the crumbling walls that indicated the meeting point.  
Suddenly I saw him too. A guy around Nick's age came limping around the corner. He was still far away, so the details were vague, but I could clearly see he was holding a weapon in one of his hands, he held the other clutched around some sort of sports bag.

Rustling in the bushes indicated Wolfy had fled. I shouldn't have expected otherwise. I was actually about to follow him and take cover, that was what I usually did when I came across other people, as I didn't own a gun myself, I always seemed to lose them. Confronting this stranger with nothing but a dagger seemed like a stupid idea. It made me realize I really was going to need a handgun to keep close if I was serious about staying with the group.

That wasn't something I had to think about now though. I got up and bent down, getting ready to make a run for it to the trees, but then I figured since I was now part of a group, I'd have to look out for the others if I wanted them to have my back too.

I couldn't just go hide, Clem and `Jane were up there without a clue! If that guy was unfriendly and caught them by surprise, they would be in big trouble. And so would I, because I had a feeling Kenny wouldn't be forgiving me if anyone would lay a hand on Clementine.

The guy was relatively close now, so I'd either have to sneak up undetected somehow, or perhaps get his attention and scare him off, or lure him away? That seemed a bit too risky.

I frowned, the wind played with my hair, and it got in my eyes. Annoyed, I tucked a loose strand behind my ear. I had lost the elastic bands I had once used to keep it in place, I would need to find an alternative for scenario's like this one. Again though, not something to worry about right that moment.

From the way the guy was headed I could see he was clearly making his way to the observatory. He came in from the other angle though, If I could sneak close the walls, he wouldn't notice me climbing the stairs, and then all I'd have to do was run up and warn Clem and Jane to stay low.

I felt scared as I rushed to the side of the observatory. I peeked my head around the corner, and realized I would have a very short time span to climb the stairs, before I'd be visible to him. Without thinking of how he could snipe my in the head any moment if he decided to look up, I ran for the stairs. As I climbed them as fast as my tired body allowed it, I felt wobbly on my legs. I held a hand on the banister and pushed myself up the last bit.

Clem and Jane were nowhere in sight. The observatory consisted of the deck, which held a canon, and an open area, that led to the stairs at the back of the building. I ran for that area, to hide behind the wall. Just as I did, a hand covered my mouth, and though it startled me, I knew it was best not to scream.

I violently pushed the hand away, and looked directly into Jane's eyes. She sat crouched behind the wall with her gun ready, and held a finger to her lips. When I looked to my right I saw Clem, hiding behind the canon, her eyes were anxious.

I crouched down next to Jane.

'What's the plan?' I whispered.

Jane shook her head slightly, but didn't answer the question. I was going to take that as "improvise".

The squeaking got louder, and footsteps neared. Jane and I backed away from the opening, just as the guy's head popped up around the corner. He was wearing broken glasses, and the squeaking was because of braces he had around his leg. That had to be one hell of a lurker magnet while sneaking in buildings, or basically any scenario where you wanted to go unnoticed.

Jane and I could just stay out of sight. He wasn't paying much attention though, he got out the bag he had been desperately clutching to his chest, and tried pushing it in a garbage can that stood on the deck.

I saw Clementine shifting position, as she got up slightly.

'Hey.' She said. If it hadn't given away our position I would have face palmed my forehead.

The guy turned around at once and pointed his gun at her. I was relieved to see how bad it was shaking though.

'Don't hurt me, I'm just a kid!' Clementine exclaimed. I couldn't see her face, but I bet she was doing the puppy eyes as well. Was he soft enough to fall for it though?

There came no response from the guy.

'…Do you understand me?' Clem asked hesitantly as she rose to her feet fully.

'Yes.' The guy said quietly, though I could hear an accent. The gun in his hand was shaking uncontrollably. It made me wonder if he had ever shot anything before.

'I am Arvo.' He said in a voice almost as shaky as his hand. 'I'm going to go. I don't want to shoot… I don't want to shoot anyone… especially…'

He mumbled something in a language I didn't understand. Next to me Jane got up slowly as quietly as possible.

'A, uh… little girl.' He finished his sentence.

Clem looked past him, and focused on Jane approaching him from behind. 'You don't have to shoot anyone. Just put the gun down.' Clem said slowly, but loudly to distract him. 'Just put the gun down.' She made calming gestures with her hands.

He almost looked like he was about to, but then Jane got close enough, and she grabbed the gun violently from his hand.

'Back up.' She said calmly, as she pointed the gun at his face. She had the posture of someone who had done this a million times before. She was the exact opposite of this guy. 'Put the bag down.'

I came out of hiding and joined Jane's side. Arvo realized he was way outnumbered, and dropped the bag with an angry frustrated expression in his eyes.

'Clem, make sure he doesn't have any other weapons in there.'

Clementine did as she was told, and crouched down next to the bag.

Suddenly, Arvo started to panic. 'No I have no more guns. I swear to you!'

I looked at his face, trying to determine whether he was lying or not.

'Anything?' Jane asked

I looked down at the opened bag and my eyes widened out of disbelieve.

'Woah.' Jane said softly, voicing my thoughts. 'That's a serious stash of meds.'

The bag was full of bottles, water, disinfectant, _actual_ disinfectant, and shots that probably contained some sort of heavier drug.

Clementine still sat crouched and stared at a bottle of pills in her hand.

'No no no no no. Take whatever you want, but don't take that medicine, it's for my sister.'

When I looked back at Arvo it kind of hurt me to see him standing there so defeated. If I'd been in possession of something as valuable as this I'd be cursing my lungs out having been apprehended by three girls who just so happened to have beaten me to this spot.

He looked over at me, realizing my face wasn't a emotionless mask like Jane's, though I tried to mimic her expression.

'Please… the pain makes her cry, and that makes those things come, please.'

I looked down at my feet. I couldn't bear to look at his face. I had gotten soft.

'If it's for your sister, then why were you hiding it in the garbage?' Clem asked suspiciously.

'I needed a place to… to keep it safe.' He started, but Jane wouldn't let him finish him stumbling over his words.

'Sister or not, we could really use that stuff.'

My head jerked up, and I looked at her in disbelief. Was she really suggesting stealing from this poor loser?

'No, you are not nice people!' he was almost sobbing. 'You have already left me defenseless, and now you take my sister's medicine?' his voice broke.

I scratched the back of my head awkwardly ass I looked down at Clem, who had doubtful expressions on her face.

'You are…!' He started cursing in his language. At least I assumed it was cursing, because that's what I would have done.

'Hey, we've got people who are suffering, who need this medicine.'

Now that I thought about it, she was right. She looked over from him, to me, and then her eyes rested on Clem.

'Luke's still a wreck after Carver's, Kenny's a mess, Rebecca's in pain…' She looked at me once more, her eyes determined and sad at the same time. 'And Nick can barely walk.'

It hit me just then, with this medicine we were golden, this bag contained the solution to some of our biggest problems.

But then I looked over at Arvo, who glared back on the verge of tears.

'Clementine, Cammie, we need that stuff!'

'My people are suffering just as much as yours, you are not special!'

'Clementine, yes?' he turned to her with pleading eyes. 'You must believe me.' He turned his head and looked at me. 'Camy?'

I would have laughed at him for pronouncing my name wrong, but he caught me in his sorrow.

Nick was important to me, of course he was. He was slowly becoming my world. But he was recovering on his own, we couldn't just steal from this guy, he hadn't wronged us in any way. …yet.

'We… we can't do this.'

Jane's jaw dropped slightly as she looked sideways at me. She had clearly expected me to have more spine than that.

Hope shimmered in Arvo's eyes. 'Yes, thank you, thank you Camy!'

Clem looked at me for confirmation. I shook my head softly and grimaced slightly.

Clem looked at the pills in her hand once more, and then threw them back in the bag.

'You're not taking them?' Jane said surprised.

While zipping it closed she looked at Jane with determination flaming in her yellow eyes. 'I'm not robbing anybody. Just let him go.'

Jane stopped pointing the gun at his face. A weird expression fell over hers for a split second, and suddenly she rushed for him, pushing him violently against wall. She held the gun right up to his neck.

Arvo whined and squeezed his eyes pleadingly.

'Jane stop!' 5 exclaimed, but I couldn't move. I made no attempt to take the gun from her.

'Jane, don't do it!' Clem said.

Arvo's eyes shot to my face for a second, and I could see Jane looking at Clem from the corner of her eyes.

'Don't you EVER come around here again. I don't care if you do have some sick sister, the next time I see you, you won't just be walking away.' She pushed him away and allowed him to grab his bag. He limped towards it, picked it up, and walked off, squeaking like a rusty door.

Jane said out loud what I had been thinking all this time: 'I can't believe I've gotten into this mess, threatening some stupid kid…'

Clem just looked at her. I wondered what was going on in her head. She didn't seem as phased as I did.

Jane had almost shot him, for no reason.

'Why almost kill the guy?' I asked. I was starting to get back my courage. 'He didn't do anything.'

As if she had forgotten about me, Jane suddenly turned around, and here eyes hardened. 'I wasn't going to kill him. I just needed to make sure he wouldn't come back here again.'

'I think you got through to him.' I remarked dryly, as I started making my way to the stairs.

'Clem, tell the others.' Jane said, and turned around. 'As soon as we get this place open we can start preparing it for the..' she said the next word as if it was the worst cursing word she had ever had to get over her lips. 'birth.'

Clem did as she was told, and rushed past me, she looked at me and squeezed her eyes.

'Hey.' Jane called out, right before I was about to head down the stairs myself.

I turned around and looked at her. Suddenly with Clem gone she didn't see quite so confident anymore.

'So are you and Nick… like...'

'What, a couple?' I asked, and I could feel my face redden slightly. 'I don't know.' I said honestly. 'What does any of that mean nowadays? One bite and you're gone.'

Jane's eyes darkened and she nodded slightly. 'You and me are alike you know.'

I raised an eyebrow, but Jane hadn't seen it, she just stared at the river clearly visible from so high up. 'We both don't want to be here, but something keeps us here.'

'Rather someone.' I said. And I studied her closely. Perhaps we were alike.

'They make us feel things we haven't felt since before… all this.'

I nodded slightly, realizing it was true. When I was with Nick I felt happy, in love, even scared, which I hadn't truly been since my mother had died. When I thought my every emotion had died, he showed me how to be human again. Not to mention without him I'd have been dead several times.

'Don't grow too attached to him.' She said as she turned around. 'Love doesn't last, not anymore. And trust me, it hurts when that one bite ends it.'

I frowned. 'I don't need your advice, don't think I'm new to this.'


	37. First Watch

**First Watch**

I stared out into the woods, hugging my knees, sitting against a crumbling part of the wall. I had given up pacing around a while ago. It was pitch black out. My eyes were about used to the darkness by now, but it was hard to see anything. The trees all looked like lurkers. I just kept telling myself I'd hear them if there really was anything moving around the camp, but I wasn't quite sure of it, I was so tired.

Clem, Nick, Kenny, Sarah, Rebecca, Jane and Luke were sleeping inside the tent, and I was on watch with Mike and Bonnie. Nick had poked me awake about half an hour ago and had volunteered to stay awake with me, but I knew he needed his sleep, maybe even more than I did. So I declined his offer. I didn't feel like talking to the others much though, so I had picked a spot between the walls where I wasn't too visible, and kept my eye on the premises.

Kenny wouldn't settle for less than three people on watch at a time. I personally thought it was a bit much, but he was right about the fact we were completely out in the open, anyone, or anything could approach us from essentially any direction.

My stomach grumbled. Mike and Bonnie hadn't found any food back at the museum, but they had brought two big tanks of water. Bonnie still had some food supplies from the Hardware complex, but we were with quite some people, so it hadn't exactly been satisfying.

I played with my dagger, absentmindedly balancing it on the tip of my finger. Being on watch like this, it reminded me a lot of what it had been like in my old group. Though, the watches weren't half as long because of the insane amount of people we'd had in our group. How long ago had that been? It felt like years, though it couldn't be more than a couple of months. It also felt like I'd known Nick for months now, but if I did some math, we'd met only about three weeks ago or something.

In the distance I could hear Mike say something to Bonnie. They were on the other side of our little camp circle. I could be sitting with them, talking to them, being at least somewhat social. I thought back at what had happened earlier, my argument with Luke.

It happened right after Jane gave me her 'advice'. I didn't exactly know why, but hearing her say the cold heart truth just frustrated me so badly I felt like punching someone in the face.

My hand grabbed hold of my dagger when I bumped into someone as soon as I'd gotten down the stairs.

'Woah easy!' Luke exclaimed, as I pulled my dagger at him. He placed a hand on his side and rubbed it slightly. Jane had been right; he didn't look good. Had letting the guy take off with the medicine really been the right thing to do?

Right behind him stood Nick, who's face lit up as soon as he saw me.

'Shouldn't you be watching tree lines?' I asked, I refusing to look at either one of them.

'I was going to check up on what Jane was doing...' Luke let his voice trail off when Nick approached me and stood next to me in such way his shoulder was pressed against mine. It felt nice being a little closer to him. Warm.

Luke had a weird look in his eyes. As soon as I focused on him and tried to determine what it was, he brushed it off.

'Well, she just almost killed a guy.' I said, and Nick's eyes widened slightly.

'That's not what Clem told us.' Luke mumbled.

'She threatened him, and almost shot his brains out, I wonder what Clem made of it.'

Luke ignored that. 'You two should head back to camp, I'll go check on Jane.' He looked from my face to Nick's and his expression saddened.

'Good luck with that.' I mumbled darkly, thinking about how Jane's complete attitude changed depending on the situation. Luke had picked up on my sarcasm.

'Ya know, there's no need to be so…' he frowned while he was searching for the right word. 'hostile.' he ended his sentence in a slightly agitated voice.

It surprised me, and I snorted. It made Luke glare.

'Says who?' I asked, and I finally looked him right in the eye, standing up straighter. He was still taller than me though. I could feel Nick tense up next to me. I wasn't letting it go this time though. Who did he think he was, correcting me on being "hostile"? I could feel my cheeks redden.

'You're clearly not used people huh?' Luke asked, and he managed to sound condescending and mean at the same time. He looked down on me, he was taller, but strangely he didn't make me feel intimidated. 'You should learn to trust us.'

'Well, maybe I don't want to!' I said as I looked away. 'I didn't ask for any of this!' I felt tears welling up in my eyes. Oh no, I wasn't going to cry in front of this asshole.

'Then go!' Luke said in a voice so loud he was almost screaming. My head shot up and I looked him straight in the eyes, staring him down just as angrily as he did.

'Guy's c'mon!' Nick interfered. 'Luke, don't be like this man.'

'Wha- me?!' Luke let go of the rifle that was hanging around his neck, and his angry eyes pierced through mine, a fire burning in them. 'Go ahead and leave, do us all a huge fuckin' favor.'

He turned around and started climbing the stairs.

Perhaps Luke was right, I really wasn't used to people. They all had their own problems and emotions radiating off them, and it confused and annoyed me. I had enough problems of my own.

How was I going to face him again after that? I'd made it pretty clear to the both of them I didn't like this group. Nick knew already I wasn't exactly a social person, but I couldn't ask him to leave all of his friends for me, that was just shallow. I'd have to start behaving more like Bonnie or something. She seemed to get along all right with everyone. Maybe this didn't have to be that bad. There was also Jane. She'd said we were alike. She could relate to my fear of groups, perhaps she'd had bad experiences herself. Well, of course she had. This was the apocalypse. Just about every minute was a bad experience.

Yet… when Nick looked at me like that, I could almost forget, even if it was just a second, it was addicting.

I barely heard the footsteps behind me, and when Mike spoke, it startled me so bad, I dropped my dagger.

'Wake up.' He remarked dryly.

'I am awake…' I mumbled as I rose to my feet and rubbed some dried grass from my jeans.

'I'm gonna turn in, you should too if you think you can't take it anymore.'

I shrugged. 'I'm fine, I just wasn't expecting anything from that direction, 'cause it's your side.'

I caught a hint of a smile despite the darkness. 'See you tomorrow.' He mumbled, as he made his way to the tent.

I sighed and turned around. Bonnie's flame red hair was clearly visible on the other side of the camp. She was looking in my direction as well. I gave her thumbs up to indicate all was clear on this side. I couldn't quite tell, but I thought she'd nodded in acknowledgement. She turned around, and began walking around a bit.

I slid down the wall again and picked up my dagger. From behind me I could hear the tent opening: Mike's replacement.

I squeezed my eyes at the trees, because for a second it seemed like I saw some movement in there. It was probably Wolfy or something, he was around here somewhere, and it couldn't be a lurker, they were way noisier.

'How you holdin' up?'

Shit. Luke was standing right behind me. Him, of all people… great.

I shivered. 'I'm fine.'

'You don't look fine.' He mumbled softly. As a peace offer, he draped a warm blanket around my shoulders.

'Thanks…' I mumbled, and I managed to look up at him and smile slightly, though I turned my head back at the woods almost immediately.

He slid down against the wall next to me, and when his knee touched mine, I shoved away from him hesitantly. I didn't like having him so close.

Luke sighed, and for a while we said nothing. I felt like pointing out it would be more efficient if he took another side of the camp, but truth be told, I didn't really mind the company of another living being, even if it was him. I was going to need to get used to him, and an extra pair of eyes couldn't hurt, Bonnie had the other side anyway, and she seemed more alert than me.

Luke cupped his hands and brought them to his mouth. When he blew on them, I could see his breath in puffy clouds whirling around. I shoved back against him, and pulled the blanket over our knees. Suddenly it didn't feel all that weird anymore, sharing warmth felt like a natural thing to do.

'Listen, I think you and I…' he began, but he stopped talking and scratched the back of his head.

'Nick means a lot to me.' He suddenly said after another couple of minutes of quiet. 'Heck, he's my best… no, last friend from before all this shit. I've known him for goddamn ten years now!'

I sat in silence and let him talk.

'So, when I thought you… I wasn't sure if I should trust you or not. I still don't know why you lied to me.'

For a second, I wasn't sure what he meant. But then I realized he was referring to that night we ran into each other in the woods, and I had lied about not seeing Nick.

'But that's in the past now, and we should learn how to trust each other.'

I looked at him for the first time, and saw him staring back at me. His wavy brown hair danced in a breeze I couldn't feel.

'Nick cares about you a lot.' He said, and I couldn't look away. 'I haven't seen him look at anyone like that, not since his mother died.'

I gulped, and nodded.

'So, I guess what I'm tryin'a say is… I know I was an asshole, and I'm not gonna pretend you made it hard for me to be one. But at least we have one thing in common. Let's try make this work, we could really use your help.'

Before I got a chance to say anything back, we both jumped up at a loud scream coming from the woods. I could hear my heart racing in my chest. Luke stood slightly in front of me, he picked up the rifle he had placed next to him on the ground where we'd sat and pointed it at the tree line while he tried to make out what was beyond the darkness.

'What do we do?' I whispered. Luke pressed his finger to his lips.

Mike stormed out of the tent. He apparently hadn't fallen asleep yet. Kenny followed right after him, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, or… eye. Within a second he was alert though, and we all watched the trees, waiting for another sound.

'What the fuck is going on?' Kenny asked, he had a loud voice, but he managed to keep it down just enough for me not to shoosh him automatically.

'Should we wake up the rest?' I asked, as I rubbed my arm insecurely.

'It should be fine, it was probably nothing'.' Luke said, but he didn't remove his gaze from the trees. We lived in a world where a heart wrenching scream coming from the woods in the dead of the night was 'nothing'… why didn't' that even surprise me?

Suddenly, something came stumbling out. It was Wolfy, followed by a corpse that had one leg, so it crawled over the ground.

'The fuck is that thing?' Kenny said, and he pointed his gun at Wolfy.

'No, don't!' I said, but I didn't dare reach out to knock the gun out of his hand. 'It's a dog. You can't just shoot him! Let me take care of this.'

'Cammie, no!' Luke said in a hushed voice as I walked away from the group.

Mike was right behind me, and while it annoyed me, it was nice to have someone support me at the same time. I was feeling a lot of contradictive things in this group.

The lurker was already on the ground, so it didn't take much effort to crouch down and stab it, until it stopped moving.  
Wolfy backed away scared, keeping his eyes on Mike, but when he saw me, he stopped growling.

'Well, that was that.' I said as I got back up from the crouched position and rubbed some dust from my jeans.

It startled me when I turned around and Kenny was right in my face. That bastard sure was quiet when he moved. And fast…  
'Don't move.' He whispered. He held his gaze fixed on the tree line behind me. I gulped.

Ignoring his order, I slowly turned around.

At first, I couldn't see anything, but then I realized both Kenny and Wolfy were staring in the same direction. Wolfy had his tail between his eyes.

A dark figure stood there, behind a tree.


End file.
